


Nostos

by FemaleSpock



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Family Drama, Gen, Meet the Family, Minor Injuries, OT3, Polyamorous Character, Returning Home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-02-22 22:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2524055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FemaleSpock/pseuds/FemaleSpock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura goes home for the holidays and finds that not everything is exactly as she left it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Laura hadn’t even really wanted to go back for the holidays – as much as she wanted to see her dad, the situation with the Dean and the kidnapping of girls was far more pressing. She’d planned to tell her dad that she needed to stay behind and study (which unfortunately was true despite that fact that she had little intention of actually doing so) and just hoping that they’d sort the situation out so she could go back home eventually.

 

In the end, however, Carmilla had told her that it was pointless because she and her mother were going off on some (last-minute) errand for the entirety of the holiday period so Laura might as well stop moping round the room and go – especially as she wasn’t even going to be there to 'mope' with her. Of course Laura had been curious about where Carmilla and her mother were going but Carmilla had said that she didn’t know. With Carmilla, that didn’t always necessarily mean that she didn’t know anything, just that she wasn’t willing to share anything at this juncture.

 

 _‘Trust,’_ Laura had repeated to herself several times to resist the urge to snoop around and find out exactly what was going on. _‘Good relationships are built upon trust, if she knew anything important she’d tell me.”_ Carmilla had promised her a full report when she got back but that did little to assuage Laura’s worry – what if the Dean saw through Carmilla’s double agent act and buried her alive again or worse drove a stake through her heart?

 

“Don’t you worry about me, Duckling,” Carmilla had said, in that low voice of hers. “I’ve got it covered.”

 

That hadn’t exactly filled her with confidence but there really was nothing she could do about it, so Laura had arranged to go home, feeling glad that she at least didn’t have to disappoint her father by staying away. She hadn’t planned to bring anyone back with her; as previously established, Carmilla was going off with her mother on this mysterious quest – not to mention the fact that Laura couldn’t think of anything more disastrous than bringing Carmilla back home to meet her father.

 

Whilst bringing Danny home was undoubtedly the safer option, Laura hadn’t really considered it either because it just seemed like a big step to introduce _anyone_ to her father. She definitely wasn’t planning on explaining to her dad that she actually had two girlfriends, his brain might just explode at that one (and she’d seen exploding brains first hand – it wasn’t at all pretty).

 

But she’d casually asked Danny what she was doing for the holidays and Danny had told her that she was just going to stay in the dorms by herself. Being Danny, she tried to put a brave face on it but Laura could tell that she wasn’t exactly thrilled about the situation. Danny never really talked about her family and had always brushed away Laura’s attempts to ask her about them. If Laura had to guess, she’d say that they probably weren’t on the best of terms, perhaps that they were estranged to the point of not even speaking to one another.  

 

The thought of Danny just staying alone in the dorms all on her own over the holiday season had been enough to over-ride her concerns about bringing a girl home to meet her dad, so she’d invited Danny to come along with her and Danny had accepted.

Now here they were, standing outside of her front door, the door to the house that Laura had always lived, feeling oddly nervous. The town was so small and familiar that if felt a little surreal to be back there after having seen so many other things (as you inevitably did when attending Silas University). They’d told her University would change her perspective but she hadn’t quite counted on just how much.

 

“Are you going to ring the bell?” Danny prompted, gently.

 

“Right, yes, of course.” Laura pressed the bell before she could talk herself out of it. “There.”

 

“You did tell him you were bringing me? He’s not just going to open the door and be totally shocked, right?” Danny sounded uncharacteristically nervous.

 

“Don’t worry,” Laura said. “I know better than to spring guests on my dad – he needs time to run a background check first.”

 

They heard movement inside the house.

 

Danny turned to look at her. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

 

Laura begun to answer but was cut off by the opening of the door. Her father stared at her for a moment and she stared at him. She couldn’t quite place it immediately but he looked different than she had remembered though his face was the still the same – his eyes lit up when he saw her and it hit her. She was home. He reached forward and crushed her into a hug; she hadn’t realised just how much she had missed him until this moment.

 

She buried her head in his chest and found herself overwhelmed by an unfamiliar chemical smell. She started coughing and he let her go.

 

“Dad, are you wearing cologne?” she asked between coughs.

 

“You just got home and that’s the first thing you say to me?” He smiled then looked towards Danny. “I suppose this must be your friend.”

 

Normally, Laura would have been tempted to chew him out over his awkward habit of avoiding the word ‘girlfriend’ whenever referring to anyone that Laura dated but it didn’t seem like quite the right time for a rant.

 

“Hi, I’m Danny,” Danny stuck out her hand.

 

Thankfully, her father took it and gave it a firm shake. “Well, it’s nice to meet you Danny. Why don’t we go inside and stop hovering outside the door.”

 

Laura was glad they were past the first hurdle at least. “Yeah, let’s go inside.”

 

Danny and Laura lugged their bags over the threshold – Laura’s dad had offered them help but the both of them were too stubborn to take it.

 

They hovered around in the hallway awkwardly before Laura’s dad finally broke the silence. “Now, I’d love to hear all about you Danny, but first how about you take your bag to Laura’s room and unpack your things? I just need to talk to my daughter alone for a moment.”

 

Danny looked to Laura for confirmation. “My room is the first room to the left,” Laura managed, unsure as to what this was about.

 

“Sure.” Danny picked up both her bag and Laura’s and disappeared down the hall into Laura’s room.

 

She and her dad stood in silence for a moment that felt like an eternity. She looked down at the floor; he was wearing new shoes, not the beaten up old walking boots he usually wore, she wondered when he had bought them (since she was away, she guessed). She wished he would just spit out it out, whatever it was he had to say. Her father was usually pretty direct when he had something to say, annoyingly direct in fact; in fact the last time she had heard him get this quiet about something was when their pet cat, Minerva (he’d allowed her to pick the name), had died. The times were few enough that she could count them all on the fingers of one hand. She would always remember the first time, it was practically seared into her memory, when he’d come home from the hospital and eventually told her that…

 

Her thoughts were thankfully interrupted by him clearing his throat. “Listen, I have something to tell you and I didn’t want to say it over the phone.”

 

“Okay,” she said.

 

“I’ve met someone,” he said, finally. “A woman.”

 

She guessed she should have seen it coming the moment she’d seen how he was dressed; seeing him wearing an outfit that wasn’t selected entirely based on practicality was, in retrospect, kind a giveaway. She supposed he was glad that he hadn’t done the cliché thing of telling her than he had a surprise for her and sprung the new woman upon her in person without so much of a warning – why did dads on television always think that was such a stellar idea?

 

“Oh,” she said, letting it sink it. Her father hadn’t ever really dated, that she’d known of, since her mom – he’d always been so guarded around people he didn’t know. “How did you meet this woman?”

 

He looked away, seeming almost embarrassed. “Well, truth be told, I initially met her via e-mail.”

 

Laura’s mouth dropped open. After years of lectures on the dangers of meeting weirdoes over the internet, her father had found a girlfriend through those very same methods he had always decried.

 

“You didn’t give her your real address did you,” she said, imitating his voice. Maybe this was serious but she couldn’t miss the opportunity to tease him over it. “Or send her any pictures, you never know, she might just be some 70 year old man for all you know.”

 

“Very funny,” he said, a slight smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. “I have met her in real life and she’s exactly who she said she was.”

 

“Will I meet her?” Laura asked, undeniably curious as to who this mystery woman was that made her dad abandon all his long held prejudices against online communication.

 

“I’ve invited her and her daughter over to dinner tonight but if you need some more time to get your head around the idea…” He trailed off, watching her carefully for her response.

 

He was leaving it up to her but Laura knew he’d be disappointed if she said no. “I’d be interested to see what she’s like.” That wasn’t a lie at least.

 

Her dad smiled and looked relieved. “That’s good. I’m making your favourite for dinner tonight.”

 

She smiled too but then stopped, something he had said finally catching up to her. “Wait, did you say she had a daughter?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah, though I’ve not met her yet. That’s part of why we have so much common – we’re both single parents with a college-aged daughter.”

 

Laura nodded. “I guess I’ll see what she’s like later then but for now I’m going to unpack a little.”

 

“Okay,” her dad said. “They’ll be coming round about seven.”

 

 She walked back to her room, collapsing on next to Danny on the couch, resting her head on her shoulder and sighing loudly.

 

“Bad news?” Danny asked, anxiously – evidently fearful that Laura’s dad had taken one look at her and decided that she was trouble and could never see Laura again.

 

Laura sighed. “Not bad news exactly, it’s actually good news when you think about it. My dad is seeing someone.” She had worried about him getting lonely without her there so she guessed it probably was a good thing he had someone new in his life – she just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

 

Danny slung an arm around her. “Are you okay with that?”

 

“I guess its better in a way, if she’s here then he’ll be focused on her and not on interrogating you about your intentions towards me,” Laura offered.

 

“Which is a good thing because my intentions are anything but honourable,” Danny said, lightly.

 

Laura had to crack a smile at that one, she couldn’t imagine any scenario in which Danny wouldn’t do the honourable thing – it was kind of her whole deal.

 

“Seriously though,” Danny said. “I am here for you.”

 

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what she’s like,” Laura said, hoping to close the book on the topic at least for now. “Maybe she’ll be really good for my dad.”

 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments.

 

“Your room is cute by the way.” A mischievous little smile crossed Danny’s face.

 

Laura looked around, realising that her room was, of course, exactly the same as when she had left it – which unfortunately meant it was covered in posters, some of which had been there for so long that she didn’t even register them normally (they had just sort of become part of the room as much as the walls or the worn out beige carpet).

 

Danny could apparently read her face and raised an eyebrow. “So, Avril Lavigne, huh?” 

 

Laura pulled a face. “What can I say? I was young…”

 

“Well, I would sing the lyrics to ‘Girlfriend’ at you but I think that one might hit a bit too close to home,” Danny quipped.

 

Laura crossed her arms and shot her a look. Danny raised her hands up. “I was just kidding, I swear.”

 

Laura knew that Danny was never completely joking when she made comments about Carmilla but she decided to let the matter drop. Their arrangement was still relatively new and fragile enough that she didn’t want to prod too much at it. Besides, if Danny could joke about Carmilla then that at least meant there was some kind of progress given that the outright hostility that had initially defined their interactions with one another.

 

“So, you like my room then.”

 

Danny took Laura’s hand, interlocking their fingers. “I do.” She brushed her thumb up and down Laura’s skin. “It’s nice to see where you came from.”

 

Laura launched herself at Danny, smashing their mouths together. Danny deepened the kiss, pulling Laura down on top of her, their bodies pressing up against each other. The sofa squeaked beneath the weight and Laura could feel Danny’s little laugh against her lips. She pulled Danny in tighter, just wanting to get lost in her and forget all about everything else – and indeed, the way that Danny was squirming beneath her was very distracting.

 

It felt a little peculiar at first, making out with Danny in her childhood bedroom but she could get used to it – or at least, she was starting to think that before she was interrupted by the doorbell. She and Danny jolted apart, as if caught, sitting up with an incredibly abruptness.

 

“Is it seven already?” Laura groaned, craning her neck to look at the fluffy pink clock she’d had since she was five years old.

 

“I guess so,” Danny said, attempting to smooth down her clothes and hair so that she would at least look passably presentable when eating dinner with Laura’s father. “Are you ready to face them?”

 

Laura shrugged, trying to put her best determined face on. She’d faced giant mushrooms and killer books and freaking vampires – she could handle one dinner with her dad’s new girlfriend. “Let’s do this.”

 

She stood up and strode out the door before she could manage to talk herself out of it, walking out into the hall, ready to put on a smile and welcome them into her home and –

 

Laura stopped dead in the gaze of the woman who was standing there in the hallway, draping her coat over one of the hooks on the wall like she belonged there.

 

The woman smiled at her, an eerie sight at best. “Laura, it’s so lovely to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from your father.” Laura could feel her face drain of blood, watching her standing there with her dad, a big goofy grin on his face. “And this is my daughter, Carmilla, I’m sure you’ll become fast friends.”

_‘My life is a nightmarish farce and I don’t even have my camera with me,’_ Laura thought, staring back at Carmilla and the Dean.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura's dad, the Dean, Carmilla, Danny and Laura eat dinner together; awkwardness ensues.

Laura just stood there, completely dumbfounded. She knew her father was looking at her, expecting her to say something welcoming but her father’s feelings were the least of her problems right now – not when all their lives might be in danger. This couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? This had to be part of some plan kind of plan though Laura couldn’t quite figure out what yet. She looked to Carmilla but the other girl’s face was giving little away. Laura could tell that she was unhappy but that didn’t exactly illuminate matters any. 

All she could manage to say was: “I...uh…yes.” Not exactly the most eloquent formulation but she hoped it might be enough to let the Dean know that she was playing along with whatever this was for now. 

She heard the creaking of floorboards behind her and nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned and was relieved to see Danny – in the shock she’d almost forgotten that she was here too. The way that Danny’s face turned from stunned to subtly murderous (it was all in the clench of the jaw) in a mere matter of seconds would have been comical under different circumstances. In a delicate situation like this, an angry Danny would probably just end up getting herself killed; if she couldn’t take Carmilla in a fight, what chance did she have against the Dean? 

Danny had toned down her overprotective act ever since that night Laura had yelled at her for it but a situation like this would no doubt bring those instincts back up to the surface again. Laura looked at Danny, desperately, trying to somehow wordlessly communicate that it would not be a good idea to go all Amazon warrior on this. Danny looked back at her, opening her mouth as if she were about to say something. Laura shook her head the absolute minimum amount necessary to get the message across. Danny closed her mouth but her hands were clenched tight into fists. 

“Karl, you told me you only had the one daughter,” the Dean said, gesturing to Danny, in a smug way that told them that she knew exactly who she was.

“Oh, well, this is Danny,” Laura’s dad said. “She’s Laura’s friend from college. Anyway, let’s sit down and eat.”

Her dad lead them all into the dining room where the food was already laid out and true to Laura’s dad’s word it was indeed Laura’s favourite: chicken and roast potatoes (and some vegetables, though Laura wasn’t quite so fond of those). They all sat down around the table: Laura sitting between Carmilla and Danny. Her father was on the opposite side to her, sitting next to the Dean. 

The initial questions were relatively easy – what part of the chicken did everyone want and how with how many potatoes? Still, Laura found her appetite was quite diminished given, well, everything…After everyone had been served, everyone just sat and ate for a little while, no-one venturing to start a conversation. 

“So, Danny, what do you study?” Laura’s dad asked, breaking the silence which to him must have seemed like a mere by-product of the natural awkwardness that occurred when single parents introduced their kids to their new partner. 

“I’m studying for my Master’s in English Literature,” Danny said, somewhat hesitantly. 

“Oh, so I guess you’re a little bit older than my Laura, then.” His tone was conversational but there was a slight edge to it.

“So Carmilla, what do you study?” Laura asked, quickly, to divert her father’s attention away from the rather insignificant age gap between her and Danny; she definitely wasn’t going to mention that Danny was her T.A. – he dad would just envision Danny as some kind of predator, misusing her power to seduce his poor innocent daughter. 

“Philosophy and I’m an Undergrad.” Carmilla was smirking a little, no doubt pleased at the opportunity to pass herself off as being younger than Danny and therefore closer in age to Laura (despite it being the furthest thing from the actual truth). “And you, Laura?”

Normally Carmilla would have added some kind of cute nickname at the end of all that but Laura supposed this was all part of keeping up the charade that they’d never even met before. Still, she missed it. “I am mostly studying English with some Journalism thrown in there.”

“But tell me,” Carmilla said, turning back to Laura’s dad. “How did you meet my mother?”

“Well,” he said. “I was a little worried about whether the Silas Campus was a safe place for young ladies so I went ahead and decided to e-mail the Dean. Your mother here was happy to give me all sorts of useful information to set my mind at rest and then we just got talking.” The fond look that her father was giving the Dean made Laura feel like throwing up, which would be a shame as this was her favourite meal after all. From Carmilla’s face it looked like she was feeling much the same about the situation. 

“I just found it so sweet how much he cared for his daughter,” the Dean said, doing an eerily convincing job of sounding sincere. “I knew I just had to snap him up.”

“Marcellina, you really are too sweet,” her dad said, beaming at her. 

‘I know the Dean’s first name,’ Laura thought, wildly – the Dean had always been such an intimidating figure that she’d never even thought of her having a name beyond her title. 

“Yeah, very sweet,” Carmilla echoed, unconvincingly. It came off enough like typical teenage brattiness in the face of adults displaying affection that the Dean didn’t even bother to shoot her a warning look, though Laura had to wonder whether Carmilla had been in on the whole thing, however unwillingly, all along. She didn’t want to believe that of her given all that they had shared but the thought ate at her brain regardless. All the things Carmilla had said about the mysterious errand echoing through her head in disjointed fragments. 

She just needed a chance to talk to Carmilla alone but it looked like it wouldn’t come soon. 

“So, do you girls enjoy your time at Silas U?” the Dean asked, looking from Danny to Laura. “I, of course, value all feedback that helps the University improve. We seek to purge any elements that make the experience less than pleasant for all.” 

Danny stuck her chin out stubbornly, bristling at the barely veiled threat. “I love Silas; I’ve really found a home amongst my sisters at the Summer Society.”

“It certainly is an interesting little club,” the Dean, replied. “I’ve certainly taken notice of its activities. And you, Laura? Any extra-curriculars?”

Laura shook her head far too enthusiastically. “Nope, none for me, it’s just study study study all the time.” She really hoped that the Dean didn’t know that she was still posting the videos. 

“That’s my girl,” her dad said, fondly. “You are still keeping up with your Krav Maga, though, aren’t you?”

“Believe me, I am practicing more than ever,” she said, thinking of all the sticky situations she had gotten into over the past term. 

“So what is this Summer Society you mentioned?” her dad asked, turning back to Danny.

“It’s an all girls outdoor athletics club,” Danny explained. “We hold the annual Adonis festival and Hunt. It’s pretty big at Silas.”

“It’s not my kind of thing,” Carmilla said, though no-one had actually asked her. “I find it all rather gauche.” 

“Well, to each their own, that’s what I say,” Laura cut in before Danny had a chance to retort. This really wasn’t the time for Carmilla and Danny to be bickering with each other. 

Everyone had finished eating and the conversation was at an awkward lull, so Laura’s father stood up and started to collect the plates up. “Guess it’s time for dessert.”

Laura jumped up to her feet and smiled at him, doing her best dutiful daughter impression. “Dad, you’ve done so much already, let me take these back and I’ll bring dessert back with me.” She made eye-contact with Carmilla made a slight indication with her head towards the door.

Carmilla did a spookily good impersonation of Laura’s facial expression and tone. “I guess I’ll go help her out.”

“Oh, Karl, isn’t that wonderful?” the Dean said. “Our daughters seem to be getting along so well already.”

They split the plates between then and left the room before they had the chance to here his reply.

Laura set the plates down in the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief, just to be out of there – between the Dean being there, her dad interrogating Danny and pretending not to know Carmilla it was all just getting a little much (at this rate she could probably become an Acting Major). 

Carmilla put her plates down too and they just stood there for a moment. “So?” Laura asked, trying not to raise her voice too much in case it was audible in the next room. “What the hell’s going on here? Why is the Dean in my house? We’re not seriously expected to believe that they just happened to find true love with one another, are we?”

Carmilla scoffed. “I’m not sure my mother even knows the meaning of the word love.” 

“She’s killing two birds with one stone; she’s intimidating you by showing you that she can get to your family at any time and…” Carmilla trailed off, looking down at her feet. 

“And? That’s one bird accounted for in the over-used metaphor, what’s the other?” Laura asked, impatiently.

“She’s intimidating me into staying loyal by letting me know that she can always get to you, that if I’m not careful you’ll end up like Ell did.” Carmilla’s face was uncharacteristically solemn, the way it always was whenever she talked about Ell. 

“Oh.” Laura had wanted to ask whether Carmilla had known that she was coming here with her mother, whether she had been in on it in some way, but now she didn’t need to ask that question. A pang of guilt shot through her for ever suspecting her, even if the situation did look suspicious. Laura reached out to lay a comforting hand on Carmilla’s arm but Carmilla shrugged it away. 

“Don’t forget, we’re supposed to be pretending to be nothing to one another, Danny’s the girlfriend – I’m just the daughter of the woman your father is dating.” 

Laura wasn’t sure whether Carmilla was angry at her mother, or angry at her, or just pretending to be angry to mask all of those human emotions Carmilla liked to deny having. Or perhaps it was all of them at once but she knew she didn’t have the mental energy to riddle it out. “Look, we just have to get through this meal without giving anything away to my dad, okay? I know this sucks but it’s important.”

“I thought you girls were getting desert.” Karl interrupted, entering the room abruptly, startling the both of them. “Is there something going on here that I don’t know about?”

“The thing is…I…I already know Carmilla.” Carmilla’s head turned sharply and she shot Laura a warning look that Laura tried to ignore. “We’re actually roommates at college, we just didn’t want to tell you in case that made things awkward – you seem to really like the Dean…I mean Marcellina, and neither of us want to mess with that.”

She smiled nervously and noticed that Carmilla was doing the same (the smiling part at least, it looked more sarcastic that nervous to Laura). The thing was that her dad was scarily good at spotting lies (which only made it more frightening that the Dean had managed to trick him like this) so Laura had learnt to tell selective truths in a way that revealed nothing she didn’t want to reveal – it was always more convincing. 

“That’s nice of you but I thought your roommate was named Betty.” Apparently he wasn’t ready to let her off the hook just yet.

“Betty dropped out,” Laura said, brightly, mentally apologising to her still-missing friend. “She decided that she’d rather go to a college closer to home.”

He still looked suspicious. “Don’t you think you should have mentioned that in your phone calls home?”

Laura almost breathed a sigh of relief; she could tell he was probably just wondering what else she had omitted from her weekly reports to him – that he was worried that she was out partying all the time and thus failing her classes (of course, she was failing some of them but for completely different reasons). This she could deal with.

“I’m sure it just slipped her mind,” Carmilla said, smoothly. “She studies so hard; you can’t blame her for forgetting a few details here and there.” 

“Hmmmm, well, let’s just take this dessert out. I’m sure that Marcellina and Danny are wondering where we are,” he said, in that tone that told Laura that the subject was not dropped – just shelved for another time. 

They were greeted by a heavy silence when they re-entered the dining room and it suddenly dawned on Laura that Danny had been left alone with her for at least five minutes. Whatever had happened in that short space of time seemed to have left a mark, Danny looked more defeated than Laura had ever seen her and the Dean looked even more pleased with herself if that was even possible.

“We come bearing chocolate torte,” Laura said, falsely cheery, setting it down on the table between Danny and the Dean. 

She returned to her seat, taking Danny’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze whilst her dad dished up dessert. Danny seemed reluctant to let her go, her grip on Laura’s hand bordering on uncomfortably tight. Laura resolved to ask her about it later but for now the show had to continue. 

Everyone ate dessert with minimal conversation, only stopping to make remarks about how good it was, though under the circumstances even chocolate wasn’t really helping Laura. Soon she was gratified to see that everyone had finished their torte – hopefully that would mean that this nightmare of an evening would be coming to an end. She just wanted to go to bed and pretend that none of this had ever happened. She could sort out a plan to deal with the Dean in the morning but for now she just wanted to rest. 

She resisted the urge to jiggle her leg as she waited for it to finally be over; every moment just seemed to stretch out into an eternity. The Dean had leaned over and seemed to be whispering something in her dad’s ear. Everything in Laura wanted to rush over there and pull them apart but she just sat there, waiting.

Her dad pulled away and turned to face the rest of them, avoiding making eye-contact with anyone in particular. “Well, it’s getting kind of late and the roads are kind of icy so we’ve decided that it’s probably safer if Marcellina and Carmilla stay here for the night.”

Laura couldn’t even summon up a response. The Dean had already come to dinner and now she was staying over in her house? Laura wasn’t fooled by the ‘we’ in this statement; this had clearly been all the Dean’s idea. This was just getting worse and worse. 

“Carmilla, you can stay in Laura’s room, with the three of you girls it’ll be just like a sleepover,” her dad continued, cheerily. 

Laura’s heart sunk when she realised that this configuration would leave her dad alone with the Dean all night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't exactly sure what system/terminology Silas University used when talking about degrees etc. so I hope I didn't use anything inaccurate; the issue was kind of confusing given that the Uni seems to follow an American system (having frats and LaFontaine referring to herself as a Bio Major) but is officially meant to be in Austria so *shrugs*
> 
> The Dean's name was chosen partially to reference Adventure Time but just because it kind of sounds similar Carmilla. I chose Karl for Laura's dad's name just at random.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who left the kudos on the last chapter! (Also, I'm not sure why the note from the last chapter is showing up on this page now, does anyone know how to fix this?)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Laura looked around at the room awkwardly and took inventory: one double bed; one sofa…three girls who needed to sleep somewhere.'

The three girls walked into Laura’s room and sat, dejectedly, in a circle on the floor. Exhausted silence ruled for a while before eventually someone had to talk.

 

“So?” Danny said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “What’s going on here?”

 

Carmilla and Laura exchanged looks. Carmilla shrugged. “You summarise it for her.”

 

“Basically,” Laura said, sighing heavily. “The Dean is probably here to try and intimidate us all into backing off the whole missing girls case.”

 

“And her?” Danny jerked her chin towards Carmilla. “How much did she know about this?”

 

“She was just as surprised as we were,” Laura said, hoping an argument wasn’t going to break out – they needed to keep the team (such as it was) together right now. “What did the Dean say to you when we were away?”

 

Danny’s face went sombre. “She insinuated that your dad wouldn’t be the only one in trouble if the Summer Society didn’t stand down from patrolling the campus for her vampire goons. Which I guess lends credence to the she’s here to intimidate us all into cowering in a corner theory.”

 

“I can’t believe my mother even took notice of your little club,” Carmilla said, scoffing. “You should feel flattered that she even noticed your existence.”

 

“I think you should be more concerned for Laura’s wellbeing than about whether or not the Summer Society is worth the attention of your creepy mother,” Danny said, failing to control the volume of her voice, causing Laura to put her fingers over her lips and making a shhhhing sound.

 

Carmilla looked down at her nails, her voice getting quiet. “I am concerned for Laura.”

 

“I’m concerned for me too,” Laura interjected, awkwardly. “But I’m more worried about my dad right now – we need to come up with a plan.”

 

“How many times do I have to tell you, Muffin, there’s no tangling with my mother – the plan is simply to play along with this pantomime and hope she won’t kill us all,” said Carmilla.

 

“I don’t accept that,” Laura said, Danny nodding along with her in agreement. “There’s got to be something we can do?”

 

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “If either of you can think of something, something _besides_ trying to tie her to a chair and acting out her life story with sock puppets that is, I’m all ears.”

 

Danny and Laura wracked their brains but nothing that wasn’t completely reckless came to mind; they’d had no real plan before they came here and circumstances hadn’t exactly improved.

 

“No? Thought not,” Carmilla said. “We’re not going to come up with some foolproof plan sitting in this room that looks like a teen magazine threw up on it.”

 

“I was young!” Laura exclaimed. Danny had to stifle a little laugh – couldn’t let the vampire know that she’d said almost the exact same thing, now could she?

 

Carmilla continued to smirk and Laura tossed a pillow at her.

 

“It’s not as nice as the yellow one,” Carmilla said, catching it and throwing it aside. “I don’t think I’ll keep it.”

 

“Look, we need to focus,” Laura said, ignoring the pillow crack. “Even if we can’t take down the Dean we do have to consider the fact that my dad is going to be alone in that room with the Dean all night…” she trailed off, her eyes widening suddenly, her face contorted as if she smelled something rotten.

 

“What?” Danny asked, worriedly. “What is it?”

 

“What if they have sex?” Laura said in a scandalised whisper.

 

“Ew,” Carmilla said, flatly. “Thanks for giving me that mental image.”

 

“But they might, right? That’s exactly the kind of thing a seductive creature of the night might do,” Laura said, looking around wildly. “Danny, go get a cup and try to hear what’s going on through the wall.”

 

“Why her?” Carmilla asked, possessively, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

 

Laura looked at her like she was an idiot for getting jealous over that. “Seriously? You want to listen in on our parents potentially getting it on, go right ahead.”

 

Carmilla considered it for a minute. “On second thought, go right ahead.”

 

Danny, though she didn’t look particularly enthused about the task at hand, went over to the desk and picked up a glass that had contained pens. She emptied it of its contents messily onto the desk, and moved over towards the wall. Gingerly she pressed it up against the wall and pressed her ear to it, squinting her eyes up a bit in concentration.

 

“What’s going on?” Laura asked, anxiously.

 

“I don’t know yet,” Danny said, waving her hands as if to say ‘simmer down.’

 

Danny stood there, just listening for a few minutes before she finally spoke. “The good news is that they’re just talking for now.”

 

“You said that’s the good news, what’s the bad news?” Laura said, chewing her lip anxiously.

 

“Your dad’s in there with my mother,” Carmilla replied. “That’s bad news whatever they happen to be doing.”

 

“What are they talking about,” Laura insisted.

 

Danny paused to listen again. “Your dad seems to be saying that he thought it went well.”

 

“You don’t think she’s got him with brain parasites, do you?” Laura asked, worriedly, looking at Carmilla.

 

“Doesn’t work on men,” Carmilla said, sounding more confident of that fact than she actually was – all the victims in the past had been women so it was very likely that this was the case and she didn’t want Laura to worry unduly.

 

“I think I heard him say the name ‘Laura’ and he’s saying something about college,” Danny said. “It’s really hard to hear through this thing.”

 

“Just try,” pressed Laura. “It might be important.”

 

“Ugh, she’s talking now, with that slimy voice of hers,” Danny said. “She’s saying something about someone being a good student – I guess she means you.”

 

“Wow, she must be laying it on thick if she’s describing me as a good student,” Laura quipped. “What are they saying now?”

 

“They just said goodnight,” Danny said. “It sounds like they’re getting into bed.”

 

Laura pulled the grossed out face again and waited for Danny to update her further on the situation, not that she was sure she actually wanted to know.

 

Danny stood there for a few minutes before pulling the glass away from the wall and turning back. “I can’t hear anything else; I think they’re actually just going to be sleeping.”

 

“Oh thank god,” Laura said in a rush, letting out a breath of relief.

 

The three girls looked at each other in silence again, unsure as to what they should actually do now that the couple in the other room had ceased talking.

 

“So,” Laura babbled. “I guess we should follow their example – the going to sleep thing, not the potentially having sex thing.” Laura looked around at the room awkwardly and took inventory: one double bed; one sofa…three girls who needed to sleep somewhere.

 

Danny seemed to sense the awkwardness. “I’ll take the couch,” she said, sitting herself down there decisively.

 

“Um, Danny,” Laura said. “I appreciate the gesture but I’m not sure you’ll actually fit.”

 

Danny looked at her quizzically.

 

“Just try to lie down,” Laura said.

 

Danny did as she said, the entirety of the lower half of her legs hanging over the side of the couch. Pulling a face, Danny stubbornly bent her legs at the knee to try to fully cram her body onto the rather small sofa. “See, it’s fine, I fit!”

 

“Give it up Lawrence,” Carmilla drawled. “She’s not buying it.”

 

“I’m really not buying it,” Laura confirmed. “It wouldn’t be comfortable at all for you to sleep there.”

 

Defeated, Danny got back up and sighed. “Fine, I guess it did feel a little awkward.”

 

“Normally, I’d be worried about what my father would think but thanks to the Dean, he seems a little bit preoccupied,” Laura said. “I think it would be fine for us to share the bed.”

 

“What about me?” Carmilla asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Wouldn’t it be polite to offer me the bed first?”

 

Laura shot her a look. “Since when do you sleep at this time?”

 

“I don’t but it’s the principle of the matter, sweetheart.” Carmilla smirked in a manner that was both infuriating and yet, totally sexy.

 

“Fine,” Laura said, robotically, refusing to let herself get drawn in right now. “Carmilla, do you want to share the bed with Danny?”

 

Carmilla looked Danny up and down as if she were some disgusting creature that she’d never even seen before. “No thank you.”

 

Danny rolled her eyes and looked like she was holding back from saying something insulting back. This was why Laura tried to keep Danny and Carmilla away from each other, as much as she had known that that couldn’t last forever – the both of them grudgingly accepted the presence of the other in Laura’s life when they didn’t actually have to see one another but put the two of them together and a fight was always on the verge of breaking out.

 

“Besides,” Carmilla continued, silkily. “Aren’t you worried that my mother’s going to be getting up to some kind of nefarious plan whilst the two of you are getting your precious beauty sleep.”

 

“Are you insinuating that something is going to happen?” Laura asked, as usual trying to decode the things that Carmilla said. “Because that’s not what you said before.”

 

“Not that I know of,” Carmilla answered. “I already told you, as far as I can tell, we’re just here to intimidate you into quitting your investigation.”

 

“I don’t think we should just take your word for it.” Danny interjected. “We should set up some kind of night-watch.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Carmilla said, condescendingly. “Since it’s been pointed out that I don’t sleep at this time anyways.”

 

Danny bristled. “I can do it. You get some sleep.”

 

Carmilla grinned, knowing that she had found a weakness – Danny didn’t like anyone taking her spot as protector of the innocent, especially not the vampire she despised. “No, no, I really insist, no need for you to play hero.”

 

Laura rolled her eyes. “Okay, well Carmilla can take the first shift and she can wake us up when she gets tired of it.”

 

Carmilla smiled triumphantly at Danny who scowled back. “Fine, I’ll stay snuggled up to Laura then.”

 

Carmilla might have spotted Danny’s weakness but Danny had worked out hers in return – she was horribly possessive of Laura. They locked eyes, staring each other down for quiet a few moments – both aware that they had reached a stalemate. Tension seemed to crackle in the air, like electricity sparking from an exposed wire.

 

Normally Laura would have intervened but honestly she didn’t have the energy right now. She’d always known that eventually the two of them were going to have to work out their issues with each other without her help. What better time than when they were all in mortal peril (well, they were always kind of in mortal peril but the danger level had definitely been raised in this situation), nothing like that to create camaraderie, right?

 

“Fine,” Carmilla said, finally, breaking away from the gaze. She walked off towards the door as huffily as a person trying to be stealthy could manage. “I’ll get on with the real work, risking life and limb going up against my mother whilst you take a nap.”

 

Danny got up to go after her but Laura pulled her back down. “Danny, if this is going to work you’re going to have to learn how to trust her.”

 

“Fine,” Danny conceded. “But I don’t have to like it.”

 

“I wouldn’t expect any less,” Laura admitted. “Come on; let’s try to get some rest while we can.”

 

The both of them moved awkwardly towards the bed, sitting on the edges but not getting in. They’d never actually shared a bed before given the whole single bed situation in the dorms, not the mention that Danny couldn’t exactly stay over in their dorm room with Carmilla there – she might just end up murdered in her sleep.

 

“We should relax,” Laura said, still sounding totally nervous. “I mean nothing’s going to happen with my Dad and the Dean in the other room and Carmilla hovering right outside the door.”

 

“Oh totally,” Danny said, sounding relieved that Laura had addressed it. “I guess this is goodnight then.”

 

The two of them clambered into the bed, pulling the covers up high, leaving a large gap of space between them.

 

“Goodnight,” said Laura, turning off the lights using the switch by her bed (installed by her dad so that if anyone broke in she could turn the lights on as quickly as possible).

 

Danny broached the distance and gave Laura a brief but warm kiss on the lips, her body remaining close to Laura’s even after she had pulled her face away. “Goodnight.”

 

The proximity was comforting and Laura found herself feeling glad that Danny was there, even if their trip hadn’t exactly gone the way that they had planned. It was enough that she was here with her, someone to lean on and draw strength from. Her thoughts then turned to Carmilla and couldn’t help but feel happy that she was here too, even though it was all part of a plot by her evil vampiric mother. That Carmilla was putting herself out there to keep Laura’s dad safe just proved how much she had changed in the time Laura had known her…

 

Laura didn’t think she was actually going to get any sleep, what with everything going on, but to her surprise she found exhaustion conquering her brain’s need to analyse and she slipped into sleep…

 

Some time later, something hit the bed startling Danny out of sleep. Automatically, she bolted up and struck out at the shadow that had appeared on the bed between her and Laura.

 

“Ow,” a horribly familiar said, sarcastically, though it took Danny a moment to place it.

 

“Carmilla?” Danny hissed. “What are you doing?”

 

“I was trying to sleep before you so rudely assaulted me,” Carmilla shot back, not even attempting a whisper.

 

“Mhmph,” Laura muttered, turning over but not waking.

 

Danny glared at the space where Carmilla was, despite the fact that the other girl could not see her in the dark - or perhaps she could, who actually knew with vampires? 

 

“So, what’s happening in the other room?” Danny prompted.

 

“Oh that,” said Carmilla as if it were something completely trivial. “My mother is definitely asleep and she sleeps like the dead – no pun intended – she won’t wake for several hours.”

 

“Are you sure?” Danny whispered, her voice getting kind of hoarse. “What about Laura’s dad?”

 

“Yeah, I’m sure – I can hear his breathing, he’s definitely still alive at least,” Carmilla said. “So you can look forward to spending an awkward breakfast with them tomorrow.”

 

“Okay…thanks,” Danny replied without really thinking about it, still a little groggy. It felt a little weird to be thanking the vampire but she supposed that Carmilla had done a good job of looking out for Laura this time.

 

“No problem, strawberry,” Carmilla drawled. “Now do you mind shutting up so I can get some shut eye?”

 

Danny said nothing which Carmilla took as a sign that she had won that one. 

 

Notes

Notes went weird last time so I’m just going to add these manually at the end instead. At some point this fic is probably going to become slightly AU given the fact that the episodes are coming out and we’re fairly close to the end of the season. Also, updates on this fic may be kind of slow because I’m doing NaNoWriMo atm, but I’ll still try to upload at least one chapter a week. Thank you to anyone who leaves kudos or comments!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura finds out a family secret.

Laura woke with an uncomfortable weight pressed against her side; she opened her eyes and wiped the sleep from them. She was momentarily surprised by the sight of her old walls in front of her, embarrassing posters and all. She’d just gotten used to living in the dorm that she’d forgotten she was back home for a moment. Still, as soon as she realised, it all came flooding back to her: the Dean coming over and the dinner from hell (possibly literally) last night.

 

She groaned a little, wanting to screw up her eyes and go back to sleep but she knew there was work to be done.

 

She looked over to see what was pinning her down, shoving a little at the dark form.

 

“I’m trying to sleep,” a voice said - Carmilla’s voice, Laura soon realised. “Go away!”

 

Laura shoved her a little more so that she could get out of bed, knowing that the other girl’s vampire strength made her tough enough to handle it.

 

“Ow,” said Danny, evidently woken up by all the commotion in the bed.

 

“Not my fault,” Carmilla muttered, immediately.

 

“Sorry, I wanted to get out of bed and Carmilla was half lying on top of me,” said Laura, a little sheepishly.

 

Danny opened her eyes, pushing Carmilla in the opposite direction off of her – getting another muffled groan out of Carmilla at being treated like a pillow. Danny pulled herself out of bed, looking less ready for action than usual, dark circles under her eyes and her hair sticking out in odd directions.

 

“You slept on my hand, vampire.” said Danny, sounding almost as grumpy as Carmilla if that were at all possible. “Now I have pins and needles.”

 

“Boo hoo,” said Carmilla – at least that’s what they thought she said. They way she was burying her head into the pillow wasn’t exactly conducive to clear communication. She seemed pleased enough that she had the whole bed to herself now, sprawling her body across the entire span of the bed.

 

Danny rolled her eyes and flexed her fingers, bashing them against her side in an apparent attempt to get rid of the dreaded pins and needles.

 

Laura looked at the clock – it was 7.43. On weekends and holidays her dad served breakfast at 8 o’clock sharp – she’d complained about it many times but he’d always replied that she was free to make her own breakfast if she wanted to get up later. She’d always scowled and gotten up, however reluctantly – the both of them knew that there was no way that she could resist the pancakes he made every morning, nor could she ever quite replicate them when she tried to make them herself (her attempts often ended in disaster and the smell of burning).

 

That gave them 17 minutes to prepare for facing the Dean again. She wondered, idly, what kind of pyjamas the Dean wore – some kind of beautiful nightgown she imagined. She shook off the thought and looked at the bed where Carmilla was still apparently trying to sleep.

 

“Get up,” she said, rather more shrilly that she would have liked. “We need you if we’re going to face the Dean at breakfast.”

 

“You weren’t the one staying up all night to see what my mother was up to – which turned out to be nothing by the way,” Carmilla complained, not budging.

 

“Thank you for doing that,” Laura said, sweetening her tone. “You know we rely on you for so much…”

 

Carmilla lifted her head off the pillow, stumbling out of bed like she was a zombie rather than a vampire. “Fine…” She pulled out a canister of blood from under the suitcase and took a chug, muttering something about not even really needing to eat breakfast.

 

“So, what’s the plan?” Danny asked, suddenly sounding much more awake. “Are we just going to pretend that everything’s normal? How long can we just keep treading water like this?”

 

“Until my dad is out of danger,” said Laura, in a voice that did not allow for any arguments. “We can see if the situation has changed any over breakfast…I just hope that my dad’s still okay…” She bit her lip, a little nervously, wondering what she would be faced with this time.

 

Danny put a hand on Laura’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Carmilla said that everything last night was fine; you’re dad’s going to be fine.”

 

Carmilla licked the last remnants of blood from around her lips and nodded. “It’s going to be fine, doll face.”

 

Laura sighed but felt comforted nonetheless. “Well, we’re not going to find out standing around here – let’s go.”

 

The three of them trudged out of the room, trying to look suitably tired from all the gossiping at their sleepover (or whatever if was they were supposed to have been doing last night) rather than on edge like they really were. The sat down at the table apparently just in time, as Karl followed them in carrying a large stack of pancakes.

 

“Morning dad,” said Laura, faking a yawn. “Ooh, these look good…”

 

“Missed them have you?” he replied, smiling. “Well you and your friends should help yourselves to as many as you want.”

 

“Thanks,” Danny said, brightly, nudging Carmilla to do the same.

 

“Where’s my mother?” Carmilla asked, looking around the room. It was true; the Dean was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Oh, she’s just getting ready,” he replied, vaguely. “I’m sure she’ll be along in a minute.”

 

Laura supposed that when you were infatuated you could forgive that person being late to breakfast; it wasn’t necessarily a sign that he’d been infected by the brain parasites…

 

“How did you girls get on last night?” he asked, looking at the three of them.

 

“Like you said, it was just like a sleepover.” Laura put on a smile that she hoped was convincing.

 

“Well, I’m just going to get some more orange juice from the fridge,” her dad said, moving on. “Oh, that’s right – Carmilla, your mother said she needed your help with something for a moment.”

 

The three girls exchanged looks before Carmilla got up, wondering what she could possibly want now. Even when she wasn’t there, she was like a shadow cast over all of them. Carmilla walked out of the room, looking like she’d rather do anything but go to see her mother right then.

 

Laura started piling pancakes onto Danny’s plate and then her own. Neither of them ate a bite.

 

“I hope the Dean doesn’t know about Carmilla spying on her last night,” said Laura, keeping her voice quiet so that her dad couldn’t hear. “If she does, she could be in serious trouble.”

 

“The Dean’s not going to do anything to her under your dad’s roof,” Danny said, not entirely sure that was true. “Besides, Carmilla’s tough – she won’t go down without a fight.”

 

“Her strength is nothing compared to her mother’s…” Laura’s tone had started out anxious but as she trailed off, her face shifted into something a little more light-hearted. “Did you just compliment Carmilla?”

 

Danny crossed her arms in front of her chest, somewhat defensively. “No, I just meant that her vampire powers make her stronger than the average person.”

 

“Sure,” Laura shot back. “Whatever you say.”

 

“Where’s your father?” Danny asked, changing the topic. “He was just going to get juice, right?”

 

“You’re right.” Laura’s expression shifted right back to one of concern. “Maybe we should go check on him.”

 

Just then they heard a large banging sound, as if something heavy had been knocked over, coming from the other room. Laura and Danny looked at each other sharply and stood up. They sprinted towards the door, passing through it quickly.

 

“Dad,” Laura called out. “Is everything okay?”

 

She didn’t receive any reply so they carried on rushing. Laura’s heart was beating erratically and fast – she could hear something now, more strange sounds coming from the other room.

 

She burst into the kitchen but he wasn’t there. She stood still and thought about it, trying to work out where the noise was coming from. It took a moment but it dawned upon her – it was coming from the pantry downstairs.

 

She pushed open the door, rushing down the stairs, Danny following her all the way. Soon she was able to see her father on the ground and Carmilla standing over him, looking royally pissed off.

 

“Hey!” Laura shouted, reaching the bottom of the stairs. She positioned herself between Carmilla and her dad, looking from one of them to the other with confusion. “What’s going on here?”

 

“Your father, just tried to attack me with garlic and a stake,” fumed Carmilla, trying and failing to contain her anger in front of Laura. “He told me mother was down here and then he tried his little stunt on me – good to know that idiocy apparently runs in the family.”

 

“I wasn’t going to stake you,” her dad replied as though it should have been obvious. “It was just to get you to co-operate whilst I restrained you.”

 

Laura stood there, in utter disbelief. “What’s going on here?”

 

“Now don’t be mad, Laura,” her dad said, climbing to his feet. “But like I said, I was concerned about the safety at that school of yours so naturally I did a little digging. Well, you know me, I wasn’t just going to e-mail the Dean and let her tell me how safe it was and it seems I was right to do so.”

 

“Does this mean you know about her?” Laura asked, too shocked to really take anything in.

 

He nodded. “Of course, that’s the reason I invited her here – I figured she’d be more vulnerable away from that…what’s it called? The Hungry Light? Easier to kill that way…”

 

“Wait, slow down,” said Danny, who up to this point had been reluctant to speak for fear of intruding on this family affair. “Does this mean that the Dean is dead?”

 

“Not yet,” he admitted. “I have her sealed in my room – the old stake through the heart didn’t seem to work on her so I’m going to have to come up with another plan. I know you seem to trust Carmilla but I figured it would be better if she was out of the way until her mother was dealt with and honestly, Laura I’m not sure I approve of you dating a vampire. We’re going to have to have words about this when this is all over.”

 

“How do you even know about that?” Laura asked, mildly horrified.

 

“You really do have to be careful about what you put up on the internet,” her dad continued, launching into one his familiar speeches. “Anyone can find those videos of yours.”

 

“Never mind about that,” Carmilla interrupted, sounding extremely on edge. “Let’s get back to the part where you thought that you could contain my mother – which, no. Congratulations, you’ve made yourself a target!”

 

Laura didn’t even turn to look at her during this rant. She was just staring at her dad, arms crossed, looking angrier than either of them had ever seen her look – angrier even than she had when she and Danny had had that massive argument.

 

“Maybe we should go check on her to see whether she really is restrained?” Danny offered, gesturing with her head to Carmilla.

 

“Fine but you can go in first,” said Carmilla.

 

“I’m not sure I’m comfortable letting her anywhere near her mother, she might try to free her,” said Laura’s dad.

 

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” said Danny, more to pacify him than out of any real suspicion. “Mind if I borrow this?” She took the stake out of his hand before he could make any answer. Sure, he’d told them it didn’t work but Danny felt better with it in her hand anyway.

 

With that, Carmilla and Danny started to sprint up the stairs – whether they were more eager to check on the Dean or just to get away from an awkward father/daughter confrontation was unknown.

 

“I can’t believe this,” Laura said, in a quiet voice that got increasingly louder the more she spoke. “You’ve been lying to me the whole time I’ve been back. You let me think that you were completely clueless and have me worrying about you this entire time when all the time this was some stupid plan for you to solve all my unsolvable problems! And I can’t believe you’d invade my privacy like that! Those videos weren’t meant for you…”

 

“Now look, Laura, I was just worried about you and clearly I was right to be,” he said, in stern tones. “Now, I couldn’t tell you the truth because the Dean had to believe that it was her idea that she was here, she had to believe she had us all where she wanted…and besides…”

 

Laura was not placated, her voice rising even further. “Besides? Besides what?”

 

Her dad looked down, sighing heavily. “I’ve been lying to you a lot longer than that…”

 

Laura was taken aback, blinking at him in surprise. “What do you mean by that?”

 

“This probably isn’t the right time to tell you…but I’ve been using that excuse for years, putting off what I need to tell you,” he said, looking down at his hands. There it was again, that silence whenever he had to say something important.

 

“Just tell me, please,” said Laura, though she wasn’t sure that she could handle any more surprises.

 

“Your mother didn’t in a hit and run,” her dad said, finally, the shadow of grief passing over his face like it always did on the rare occasions he talked about her mom. “She was killed by a werewolf…She was a monster hunter like her mother before her. She always planned to raise you to follow the family tradition but after she died, I just…couldn’t.”

 

She knew this was serious but in that moment all she could think was: _so, this is how Harry Potter must have felt._

Notes:

I’m sorry for the slow update, I had a lot more work than expected last week. Hopefully the eventfulness of this chapter makes up for it a little though?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang make a discovery about the Dean's true nature and they formulate a plan to take her out.

Laura was saved from having to react to this news by a loud bang and what sounded like a scream coming from upstairs. She and her dad exchanged shocked looks and both bolted for the stairs, running up to see what was going on. Family secrets, no matter how dark, could wait.

 

When Laura arrived on the scene, her father coming up after her, she was met with the sight of an empty chair lying askew on the ground and Carmilla looking royally pissed. Danny was looking around the room, sniffing as if she were some kind of blood hound or something. The Dean was conspicuously missing.

 

“What happened?” Laura asked the question although it was really quite apparent.

 

“She was already gone by the time we got up here,” supplied Danny, glancing towards Carmilla. “She’s escaped.”

 

Carmilla kicked the chair. “Idiot,” she hissed at Laura’s dad, who to his credit looked like he was feeling pretty guilty.

 

“So, guess what?” Laura blurted, suddenly, perhaps out of awkwardness. “Turns out I’m basically Buffy.”

 

Carmilla and Danny turned to stare at Laura in confusion.

 

“I don’t remember you actually killing any vampires, cutie,” replied Carmilla, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

“If I had then we wouldn’t be in this situation,” said Laura, sighing. “Apparently my mom was some kind of monster hunter but not much of that seems to have been passed on to me.”

 

“That’s because you were never trained.” Her father’s voice was heavy with regret. “She left so much behind but I shut it all away years ago so that...So that you’d be safe.”

 

Laura looked down at the floor, unable to find the words to respond.

 

“So you still have all of it stored away somewhere?” Carmilla asked, cutting through the awkward family tension.

 

He nodded, still looking at Laura. “It’s all in the attic – her books, her weapons, everything. I’ll try to find them now - if that’s what you want?”

 

Laura nodded and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

 

“That’s intense about your mother,” said Danny, looking to Carmilla for help with what to say. 

 

“At least your mother died a hero.” The words were unexpected from Carmilla but she sounded sincere enough that Laura felt a little better. Once again, she was so glad she had the two of them here with her; she couldn't imagine what it would be like if she had to deal with all this alone. 

 

“Thanks but I don’t think we need to talk about this right now.” Laura ran her hand through her hair in frustration, feeling free to express her anger now that her father was no longer in the room. “Because this is a disaster, we don’t even know where the Dean is – even if we do find a weakness, we’re going to have to wait here like sitting ducks.”

 

Reluctantly, Danny started to speak. “Look, I can find her when we need to but you just can’t ask me how. Can you trust me?”

 

Laura looked at Danny who met her gaze with no hint of evasion. Laura’s sense of journalistic curiosity was more than slightly piqued by whatever it was Danny was hiding from her but the fact was Danny was the most straightforward person she knew - if she could trust anyone, it was her. She nodded. “Of course.”

 

Laura looked to Carmilla for some kind of similar agreement but Carmilla was just staring at the ceiling like there was something very interesting stuck up there.

 

“I think she already knows,” said Danny, quietly, by way of explanation.

 

Carmilla looked away from the ceiling. "It doesn’t matter anyway, we don’t have a plan to defeat her now anyway as the old 'tie her to a chair' trick obviously didn’t work out.”

 

Danny gave Carmilla a slight nod of the head in gratitude – perhaps the vampire was just being her usual pessimistic self but she’d effectively managed to divert the topic back to the subject of Dean for which she was extremely grateful.

 

“Let’s come up with a better plan, then,” said Laura, trying to get back into the spirit of the fight. 

 

“I’ve already told you, there’s nothing we can do against my mother – she’s too old and too powerful. Trust me; I’ve known her for a long time.” Carmilla sounded utterly exasperated at having to tell them this for what seemed like the thousandth time.

 

“We must know something,” offered Danny. “Something that’ll help us defeat her. Like you said, Carm, you’ve known her a long time – there must be some weakness, something that you’ve missed.”

 

“Wait!” Laura exclaimed suddenly. “What about the fact that the Dean never shows up on film…and did you just call her Carm?”

 

Danny flushed a little pink. “Isn’t that just a normal vampire thing – not showing up on film because they don’t have reflections or whatever but…Carmilla shows up in your videos so…”

 

They both looked to Carmilla who shrugged. “I don’t know why that is either.”

 

“Well my dad said she couldn’t be staked like a normal vampire so maybe she’s something else?” reasoned Laura.

 

“Or your dad’s just incompetent,” muttered Carmilla though it didn’t really seem like she meant it. Maybe it was just a coincidence but it seemed that Laura had hit upon something real.

 

“Hopefully your mom’s books might shed some more light on the situation,” Danny ventured.

 

Laura shrugged, trying not to get caught up in emotion again. On the one hand, it was like knowing this secret had completely turned her life upside down. On the other, it was almost like she was finally getting to know her mother so many years after her death. She’d wanted to rid the campus of monsters before she’d even known that she had a family legacy of doing just that – it made her feel close to her knowing that they had this in common.

 

As if on cue there was a creaking of the stairs and after a few moments Laura’s Dad appeared, carrying a large and heavy looking wooden chest covered in dust. Danny jumped up to help him set it down on the floor.

 

Laura’s dad clutched at his back after having done so and Laura felt a sharp pang of pity for her dad. This couldn’t have been easy for him – any of it. It didn’t stop her from being angry that he had lied to her about who she was but she supposed it was understandable in a way. No wonder he had been so overprotective of her when he knew what horrors were really out there.

 

Nervously, she walked over to the chest and slowly opened the lid, it making loud creaking sound. Inside was an extremely large green book without even a single word on the cover to betray what was contained within. There were also several assorted weapons – a couple of daggers, a gun (presumably loaded with silver bullets), a stake and some other things which Laura could not even identify. She grabbed for the book, thinking it would probably be the safest bet as well as the most useful.

 

Laura opened up on the first page and started to read.

 

“What is it?” asked Carmilla, peering over at it. If there was one thing Carmilla couldn’t resist it was an interesting book. “What does it say?”

 

“I think it must be a family heirloom,” said Laura, her voice filled with a kind of wonder. There were names written in a long list at the front and at the very bottom there was her mother’s: Lucy Green. She flipped through a few more pages. There was information on all kinds of different creatures, notes written in different hands that Laura didn’t recognise. She flipped through a few pages and there it was – her mother’s writing – on the page about pixies. “There’s all kinds of information here.”

 

“The book was passed on throughout her family for generations,” said Laura’s dad, suppressed emotion in his voice. “I just know there’ll be something in there. I’ve tried to read it myself in the past but I just couldn’t…It just reminded me too much of everything...”

 

Laura looked up at her dad and nodded. “Thank you for sharing it with me.” Her voice was soft. “We’ll find something.”

 

The next few hours were spent skimming through the book trying to find any relevant information. Danny and Carmilla sometimes read over her shoulders although most of the time they contented themselves with trying out the various weapons from the chest. They’d even started to practice sparring before Laura and her father had glared at them and they’d reluctantly stopped.

 

 Laura paused when she found an entry about vampires. “Nocturnal, hate garlic, not too fond of stakes,” she summarised, her eyes quickly scanning the page.

 

Carmilla snorted. “Tell us something we don’t know.”

 

Laura’s eye was caught by a section marked vampire myths. It read: _contrary to depiction in popular culture the vampire does not have to be invited into the home in order enter a place of dwelling nor do they lack reflection. The latter myth most likely stems from rumours surrounding the legendary mother of vampires – Lilith._

A chill ran through Laura and she looked up from the page. “Carmilla is Marcellina your mother’s real name or does she change it up like you do?”

 

Carmilla shrugged. “It would be pretty stupid if she didn’t bother to at least shuffle the letters around occasionally.”

 

“So what’s her original name?” asked Laura.

 

“I don’t know – it’s before my time,” said Carmilla. “Why is this important again?”

 

“Is it possible that your mother is Lilith?”

 

Danny put down the dagger she had been practicing with and came over to look at what Laura was referring too.

 

“Lilith’s just a myth,” said Carmilla, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She was starting to sound defensive, the way she always did when the subject of her mother was raised.

 

“Think about it,” said Danny, sounding pumped up. “She’s probably the one who told you that in the first place to hide her own identity. Hey, Laura, look and see if there’s a separate entry on Lilith.”

 

Laura searched through the book – the problem was that the entries didn’t seem to be in any kind of order and sometimes the information on the same creatures was scattered pages apart, presumably updated after new things had been discovered. Eventually, however, she found a very small paragraph devoted to Lilith.

 

The three girls read it eagerly, re-reading the text several times to try to fully absorb the information. Laura’s father hovering around in the background, he was eager to hear what they had managed to uncover but at the same time he didn’t want to crowd Laura too much after dropping such a bombshell on her. Still, it made him proud to see her put aside whatever feelings she must have been experiencing for the sake of the fight. She was so like her mother sometimes it was incredible.

 

The text itself was rather sparse and it was not based upon any personal encounter with the figure in question unlike a lot of the other entries – no, it was based solely on stories, seemingly placed in the book for completeness or just in case there happened to some truth to the folklore.

 

Either way, most of what was written did not seem incredibly helpful but there was this one line…

 

Laura read through it again and had a sudden bolt of inspiration. “I think I have an idea!”

 

Laura told them her idea and for a while they discussed the plan of action. There was some back and forth about who should do what and what was too dangerous to attempt (Karl, Carmilla and Danny all received several glares from Laura when either of them tried to suggest that she mostly stay away from things) but in the end they agreed.

 

They ate a quick lunch and packed up some provisions before setting off, letting Danny take them to the Dean as she had promised that she would. Laura’s dad had been kind of suspicious of Danny’s apparent knowledge of where the Dean was located and Laura had reassured him that Danny could most certainly be trusted. To his credit, he let the matter drop although Laura suspected that this was only because he felt guilty about everything that had happened.

 

They weaved through street after street, Laura had lived here for her entire life up until college but it was like Danny knew her way around better than she did, walking briskly and decisively. Laura had said that she wouldn’t ask but that didn’t stop her mind from speculating – perhaps this was some kind of psychic thing? Or perhaps a tracking spell of some kind? She couldn’t really picture Danny as a witch though. Whatever it was, she just hoped it worked and they were able to find the Dean.

 

Eventually, Danny led them to the edge of the forest park and stopped. “She’s gone through here.”

 

Laura sighed. “Of course, she’d end up going through the spooky forest.”

 

“Let’s just go,” said Carmilla, taking the first steps into the trees. Laura and Danny looked at each other and followed her lead. Laura hoped it was a positive sign that Carmilla at least wasn’t advocating running away again – that it seemed like she wanted to see this through.

 

“Good job I prepared for this,” piped up Laura’s father, who, typical of him, was lugging a large amount of equipment on his back. He probably had stuff to deal with pretty much any terrain – Laura honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d ended up bringing gear for every possible type of terrain.

 

They mostly walked in silence, a sense of grim determination. The plan was set, such as it was, and talking about it took much just seemed like jinxing about it. The trees loomed up above them as they walked, casting shadows in the pale and fading light creating an eerie atmosphere.

 

After a while, they stopped for a break, setting their stuff down on a large fallen tree trunk. Carmilla soon skulked off, much to Karl’s suspicion though he knew better than to say anything about it. Laura knew that she had probably gone off to catch herself something to eat – she’d need to be strong if she had any chance of defeating her mother. Within minutes of Carmilla leaving, Karl excused himself to ‘answer the call of nature’ but Laura suspected that her dad was actually going to follow the vampire to check what she was up to. She just hoped he wasn’t going to do anything stupid again.

 

Laura sat down on the log, drawing her mother’s book out of her bag – opening it up on the relevant pages.

 

Danny sat down next to her. “Are you alright?”

 

“I just can’t believe all this,” said Laura, stroking the pages of the book with reverence – having felt like having a piece of her mom with her. “I mean I thought my mother was killed by some drunk driver but now my dad tells me that it was a werewolf.”

 

Danny’s face turned pale and she turned her face away from Laura’s slightly, her breathing hitching slightly. 

 

Laura did not appear to notice. “We haven’t even defeated the Dean and now I have to worry about werewolves…”

 

“You must want revenge.” Danny said, an odd note in her voice.

 

Laura honestly hadn’t thought about it until this moment, she hadn’t really had the time. The image of her mother, lying bloody and dead, ripped apart by monstrous claws, flooded through her mind unbidden. The thought of some animal doing that to her mom, her mom who had read her bedtime stories and stroked her hair, made her distinctly queasy.

 

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” said Laura, heavily, trying to shake the horrific vision off. “Knowing it was a werewolf doesn’t help any more than thinking it was some drunken scumbag in a car – I wouldn’t even know where to look.”

 

“Right,” said Danny. “I guess we should just focus on the Dean for now.”

Notes

This fic basically became totally AU given the past few episodes but hopefully it’ll still be fun to read, right? Even though it’s AU, I decided that the new information that the Dean’s name was Lilita could be sort of incorporated into the story as it fit the direction I was going in anyways.

 

Came up with Laura’s mum’s name at random given that I don’t think we know it in the series. Also, I should probably admit that the book about monsters that Laura inherits from her is totally a rip off of the whole Book of Shadows concept that you often have with witches in fiction.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang face an unexpected setback whilst journeying through the woods.

Laura shuffled up closer to Danny, taking in her warmth. She reached up to Danny’s face and nudged it in her own direction, drawing her down into a kiss. They hadn’t really had a chance to do this since they had arrived with all that had happened and Laura had missed this, craved the closeness. Danny responded, deepening the kiss, just allowing herself to melt into Laura.

 

Laura could feel all the thoughts that had been lingering in the back of her mind just fade into nothing as she found herself concentrating only on the moment and the feel of Danny’s lips against hers. She moved her hand up to tangle it up through Danny’s red sweep of hair, pulling her ever closer and closer and…

 

Danny and Laura jumped apart at the sound of a branch cracking. Laura turned to see her father and Carmilla approaching. The two of them were wearing equally annoyed looks though it wasn’t entirely clear whether it was from seeing Laura kiss Danny (if indeed they had seen) or perhaps just the natural tension between the two of them.  

 

“Time to move on,” Laura’s father said, sounding grumpy and disapproving.

 

Danny practically leapt up, putting her backpack on quickly – striding out swiftly with her long legs. “Right. Yes. Well, it’s this way. Follow me.”

 

The others gathered up their equipment and followed, walking somewhat less enthusiastically than Danny. Laura wished that tall people would just realise how hard it was to keep up when you had small legs and you were carrying a backpack was almost the size as you.

 

They walked for a while without stopping and Laura was quickly making the transition from merely tired to flat out exhausted. As much as she hated to think it, maybe everyone was right when they told her that a diet consisting largely of cookies and hot chocolate wasn’t exactly the basis for a healthy lifestyle. Not to mention the fact that the most exercise she’d done was to pace around the dorm room whilst ranting to the camera.

 

Her steps were getting more and more ungainly until finally she stumbled, just a little, but enough to send her toppling to the ground. Her hands flew out, automatically to break her fall, hitting pine needles scattered on the ground. There was a sudden sharp pain in her leg and she groaned.

 

Laura stayed on the ground, unable to even think of pulling herself up, instead just rolling over to her side. She clutched at her leg; there was a long cut all down the side of her calf, blood rushing out.  Looking at it, she saw she’d managed to fall onto the jagged glass edge of a broken beer bottle – wasn’t that just her luck? She consciously tried to keep her breathing steady, trying to block out the pain. 

 

Carmilla, who had been walking next to her, backed away from Laura, turning away to face the trees as though there was something interesting to be seen elsewhere. Upon seeing Laura fall Danny darted over, almost supernaturally fast, towards Laura. She knelt down on the ground next to her. 

 

“It’s going to be okay,” Danny said, taking out a roll of bandage from inside her bag. “It’s just a cut.”

 

Laura nodded, trying to keep a brave face on it. Danny moved to start wrapping the cloth around the leg but a hand on her shoulder made her stop. She looked up to see Mr Hollis standing up there, First Aid kit in hand.

 

“I’ll do that, I have antiseptic cream,” he explained. Danny looked to Laura. Laura nodded again.

 

Reluctantly, Danny stepped back to allow Laura’s dad to step in there. Feeling like she was intruding, a spare part in this scene, she walked over to where Carmilla was standing. The vampire’s face was shock white and she was biting her lip hard. Her hands were crossed tightly into her chest and it looked like she was in great pain though that didn’t make any sense…Oh. Realisation hit Danny hard and fast. 

 

“Carmilla, it’s fine, you’re not going to do anything,” said Danny, gently. Carmilla didn’t look at her, didn’t say anything in return, didn’t even seem to acknowledge Danny’s presence.

 

If the sensitive approach wouldn’t work (and when ever had it with them) then she figured it was time to get tough. “Look, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Even if you tried you know I wouldn’t let you do anything to harm her.” Danny wasn't exactly sure why she was comforting her but she supposed it was something to do whilst Mr Hollis sorted Laura out. Besides, even she had to admit that Carmilla really did seem to care about Laura; if this was an act then it was a damn good one. 

 

Carmilla looked at her, putting on a shaky smirk. “I’m not sure you could take me, Xena.”

 

Danny cocked her head a little. “Just try me, you know me – I’m always up for another round.”

 

Carmilla’s smile got a little surer. “Maybe after this is all over, I don’t want to send you to the hospital until you manage to get us to my mother.”

 

Karl finished cleaning and dressing the wound, making sure it was all tied tightly. “That’s my brave girl.”

 

Laura nodded, feeling like she was six years old all over again. It was embarrassing though she couldn’t honestly say that the feeling was all bad. “Thanks, dad.”

 

“You know I’ll always look out for you, don’t you?” he said, sounding very serious.

 

“I know.” Half the time him looking out for her caused more problems than it solved, case in point: this entire situation with the Dean, but she knew that he meant well. She only hoped that he wouldn’t take this as an excuse to try to stop her from facing the Dean – injured leg or no, she wasn’t going to stop until she was brought to justice (justice in this case being a swift dusting).

 

Laura shrugged off her backpack and pushed herself up off the ground, accepting the hand her dad offered once he realised what she was trying to do.

 

“I think we should rest here for a while,” said Karl.

 

Laura shook her head with zeal. “No, we have to keep going.”

 

“Fine but you should lean on me for support,” he replied, his tone firm. “And don’t even think that you’re going to carry that bag.”

 

“Well, it’s not like you have room on your back for another bag,” Laura protested, though frankly the thought of carrying it again wasn’t exactly pleasant.

 

“The rest of us will just have to divide the important things between us and the rest will just have to be left.”

 

As if summoned by the opportunity to help out Laura, Danny spun around from where she had been talking to Carmilla. “Yeah, I still have room in mine if I push everything else down.”

 

The two of them eagerly divided up various items, stuffing them into already full bags. Laura was loath to part with her mother’s book but she knew she couldn’t very well carry it so she said nothing as her dad took it and put it away in his bag. Carmilla was keeping her distance so when it became clear that there was no room in either Karl’s or Danny’s bag for even the smallest of items, Danny tossed over some stuff for Carmilla to pack.

 

Carmilla caught it all, moving effortlessly. She put everything away, quickly, seeming restless. “Can we head off now?”

 

“Laura, are you sure you’re alright to walk?” asked Danny. Karl nodded as if in agreement with the question. “We can take a long break, it’s fine.”

 

“Stop fussing.” Laura looked from Danny to her dad. “That goes for both of you.”

 

So they got up and started walking, Laura managed to limp along well enough, even leaning on her dad’s shoulder. They took frequent breaks though Laura tried to protest every time they stopped – insisting that she could carry on and that she wasn’t in that much pain really. They all saw through it of course but only Carmilla was brave enough to contradict her.

 

It was pretty clear where Laura got it from as well. Her dad seemed to be tiring increasingly quickly – his face contorted a little in pain despite what seemed to be his best efforts not to allow anything to show.

 

“I’ll take over,” Danny offered several times before he finally took her up on it. Danny leant down and allowed Laura to put her arm around her. It was slightly awkward at first though they soon managed to get into a rhythm, timing their steps to walk together.

 

“Thank you for doing this,” said Laura, sounding a little embarrassed. “I can’t believe I was such a klutz, some monster hunter I am that I can be defeated by inanimate objects.”

 

“It could have happened to any one of us – well, maybe not Carmilla, I’m not sure what it takes to cut vampire skin.”

 

“I heard that,” muttered Carmilla, who was walking behind alongside Laura’s dad. The two of them were most definitely not chatting so Danny supposed it was rather easy for Carmilla to eavesdrop given her enhanced sense of hearing.

 

“I know.” Laura did not sound convinced. “But I’ve slowed us all down – the Dean could have moved ten times for all I know.”

 

Danny put on her best pep talk voice – she’d had to use it several times with her sisters in the Summer Society when they were beating themselves up over break-ups or academic failures. It had worked on Carmilla too and she was a tough customer – hopefully that made it a sure win with Laura. “Look, it wasn’t your fault that it happened and worrying over it now won’t change the situation. You’re working through it and that’s what counts.”

 

"I guess I'll just feel better when this is all over," said Laura, wistfully. 

 

"So say we all," replied Danny. 

 

"Is that a BSG reference?" Laura asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

"Do you even have to ask?"

 

Laura lowered her voice a little. "I love it when you talk nerdy to me." Honestly, she was only half joking. 

 

Danny laughed, Laura soon joining in, and Danny was overwhelmed with how happy she was to hear that sound. It somehow seemed to make the walk a little easier. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Carmilla!” Danny called out some time later, startling the other girl. “I’m getting a little tired – can you take over from me?” This wasn’t strictly true but Danny had an idea. Admittedly stooping her body down so that Laura could properly lean upon her wasn’t entirely comfortable but she would have borne that feeling forever if she thought it would help Laura.

 

Carmilla made a mumbling sound but did not move to take over.

 

“No excuses!” exclaimed Danny. “You’re a super-strong vampire so don’t even pretend like you can’t do it.”

 

“Sorry, I really didn’t know how much I was wearing you out,” said Laura.

 

Danny looked at Carmilla. “It’s no biggie, as long as we keep rotating the position of crutch it’ll all be fine.”

 

Reluctantly, Carmilla slunk over. Danny stepped back and Carmilla stepped into her place, putting Laura’s arm around her with surprising delicacy.

 

“Thanks Carm,” said Laura, placing her weight upon the vampire. “I hope I’m not too heavy.”

 

A small smile broke across Carmilla’s face though Laura could not see it. “Don’t worry about me, marshmallow, it’s just like Xena said: vampire strength.”

 

“I guess that must come in handy,” said Laura.

 

The smaller height difference between the two of them certainly seemed to make it more manageable to walk along together and Laura had to admit that she didn’t mind being close to Carmilla. When they first met she never would have thought that her snarky, messy, inconsiderate vampire roommate would turn into a sweet (in her own way) and charming girlfriend. They walked like this for a while.

 

When Carmilla sensed that Laura was flagging, she distracted her by telling her stories of the past – not the tragic tale that Laura had turned into a ridiculous puppet show – but little anecdotes about some of the marvellous things she had seen. She kept her voice low, low enough that Karl wouldn’t be able to overhear the reminders that his daughter was dating a much older woman. He was currently engaged in conversation with Danny and they seemed to be getting along fine anyways – she supposed they had a lot in common, what with their protective instincts and all that. Carmilla knew if there was a competition for parental approval that Danny would win hands down. Carmilla defiantly decided that she wouldn’t care about that – it wasn’t his opinion that ultimately mattered anyway.

 

“We should stop now,” said Laura’s dad, after some time. “We clearly aren’t going to find her tonight.”

 

Laura sighed, defeated. “I suppose it is too dark to continue – knowing my luck, I’d trip over another branch and get myself doubly injured.”

 

Carmilla and Danny exchanged looks – right, the dark. Neither of them had noticed that. Hastily, they found themselves nodding.

 

“That’s right and you need your rest, sweetheart,” said Laura’s dad, insistently. “I knew that bringing the camping gear would be worth it.”

 

Laura smiled fondly at him. “You didn’t know – you just packed everything and it happened to come in handy.”

 

“Chance favours the prepared mind!”

 

Laura groaned, it was one of his favourite and most frequently used phrases.

 

“Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares – Louis Pasteur,” said Carmilla, automatically.

 

Laura’s father looked stunned, turning suddenly towards Carmilla. “That’s right.”

 

“Is there anything you don’t know?” Laura was still perpetually surprised at the breadth of her girlfriend’s knowledge – even with the advantage of all the extra years it was impressive and totally hot.

 

Carmilla smirked and shrugged as though it were no big deal.

 

Laura’s dad took the equipment off his back and started to unpack it. “Got two tents here – I’ll share with Laura of course and the two of you can share.” He said it in a tone that left no room for any arguments.

 

Danny and Carmilla looked at each other, wearing identical expressions of exaggerated reluctance to share a space together. Laura rolled her eyes and tried to hide her smile. There was something comfortable about the predictability of it all.

 

“Buckle up, Xena, I’m your new roommate,” said Carmilla in a flat tone of voice.

 

Notes

 

Got the French for the full Louis Pasteur quote from wikiquote – I don’t know French so I can’t really speak to its accuracy but hopefully it’s right.

 

Also, I just heard about Season 2 of Carmilla and I’m so happy! I can’t wait until Spring!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny and Carmilla share a tent. It's mildly awkward.

Warnings for: a little bit of menstrual talk.

 

* * *

 

“So here we are.” The words didn’t really add anything but Danny wasn’t sure what she should say to the vampire now that the two of them were sitting inside the tent. Assembling the thing had been relatively easy – she’d pretty much done it all herself and Carmilla had seemed more than fine with sitting back and letting her do the work. No, it was this – this being alone together business that was the tricky part.

 

They certainly didn’t make a manual for what you should talk about with your ex-mortal enemy/girlfriend’s other girlfriend though perhaps they wouldn’t have to say anything in the end. After all, it was late and it wouldn’t be too outrageous to suggest they just get some sleep. Still, maybe it was just Laura’s voice in her head telling her that they should try to be civil with one another, but Danny felt that she should at least give it a go - Danny Lawrence did not quit before giving a task her all, it just wasn't in her nature. 

 

She looked over at Carmilla, looking for inspiration as to what she could possibly say. Carmilla was going about the business of unrolling her sleeping bag, unzipping it and spreading it out over her side of the tent like a blanket. After rolling up some clothes to use a pillow, she crawled under it and rolled onto her side, facing away from Danny. The behaviour seemed typical of her though Danny had the sudden suspicion that Carmilla didn’t exactly know what to say to her either.

 

“You know it’s warmer if you keep it zipped up. It’s kind of the whole idea of a sleeping bag.” As the words left her lips, Danny realised that this might not be the best tack to take with Carmilla, it sounded a little critical – but hey, at least it was a conversation starter of sorts.

 

“I don’t like feeling enclosed,” said Carmilla after a long pause. She didn’t turn around.

 

Perhaps she should have had enough tact not to ask any further but honestly, impulse control had never really been her strong suit. “I can’t say I love being cooped up myself but…it sounds like there’s more to it than that.”

 

“You have the information already – you’ve watched Laura’s videos. Put it together yourself if you’re so interested.” Carmilla’s tone was casually hostile (the usual for her) though perhaps it was an act (it dawned on Danny that perhaps all of it was an act).

 

Danny cocked her head to the side and racked her brain; casting her mind back to that bizarre puppet show Laura had put on. She'd been sceptical at the time and hadn't really paid too much attention to the tragic tale - in her defence, Carmilla _had_ in fact been a part of a secret conspiracy to snatch girls (not exactly the foundation for credibility). Still, she couldn't very well just ask Carmilla to repeat the story, so she tried her best to remember. 

 

_Oh_. It dawned on her suddenly and she felt a twinge of guilt for her prying.

 

“From when you were locked in the coffin?”

 

“Give it up for Sherlock Holmes…” Carmilla was in full-on sarcasm mode now.

 

“Sorry.” The word felt strange coming out of Danny’s mouth, especially when directed at the vampire, but she felt she should say it anyway.

 

“Don’t feel sorry for me, Red,” said Carmilla. “At least everything’s out in the open with Laura. At least I’m not lying to her about what I am.”

 

Danny sighed. It was a deflection, she knew that, but Carmilla had managed to find a weak spot with maximum efficiency.

 

“Look, if she can deal with me being a bloodsucker, she can deal with your furry little problem, so stop angsting and just tell her already.” Carmilla sounded half-frustrated, half-earnest – a very odd combination to Danny’s ears. 

 

“I guess she’s really rubbing off on you, if you’re making Harry Potter references.” Danny tried for a light tone but she knew that the wobbling of her voice was clearly audible – she reached out for her own sleeping bad, hoping that the sound of her unrolling it would cover it a little. The situation was so embarrassing – the last thing she had ever wanted to seem was weak in front of her girlfriend’s other girlfriend. But they were here now and for better or worse, Carmilla was the only person in the world who could possibly understand. “Vampires didn’t kill her mother…”

 

“Oh…”

 

“Forget I said anything, it wasn’t really my place to tell you anyways, let’s just get some rest for tomorrow,” Danny said, hastily. She wriggled into the sleeping bag and got into a comfortable position (well, as comfortable as was possible when camping). Normally Danny loved camping, being closer to nature, but she was usually in the company of her sisters - not locked in an awkward conversation with someone she usually made an effort to avoid.

 

“Fine with me…Just don’t underestimate her. It wasn’t you that killed her mother; she’ll understand that.”

 

There was a long stretch of silence and they could have easily been mistaken for being deep in slumber.

 

“Carmilla…” Danny’s voice came faintly, thick with weariness.

 

“What?”

 

“Thanks…”

 

Carmilla mumbled something inaudible before the two of them really did end up drifting off into much-needed sleep.

 

* * *

 

Danny woke to familiar pains and unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark, too dark to really see had she been human but thankfully that was not something she had to deal with. She bolted up, taking in her setting – her eyes falling upon the sleeping form of Carmilla and remembering all of a sudden.

 

Sighing, she tried to slide out of her sleeping bag as quietly as possible without waking Carmilla up – Laura had warned her many times that the other girl could be grumpy when woken (even more grumpy than usual).

 

Danny thought she’d gotten away with it, clutching at her stomach as she moved towards the tent’s flap to unzip it, but the sound of Carmilla’s sleepy voice was enough to disabuse her of that notion. “What’s wrong with you?”

 

“Cramps,” Danny hissed, through gritted teeth.

 

Carmilla rolled over to look at Danny. “Well that’s bad timing.”

 

“Alright for you,” retorted Danny. “You probably don’t even have to deal with this bullshit anymore.”

 

“You’d think so but the thing about Vampirism is that it’s all about the blood, I keep waiting for the menopause but alas I am cursed to be eternally young,” Carmilla drawled.

 

“That’s got to suck.” Danny supposed that made after a certain kind of sense, after all her own cramps had only gotten worse after her turning – something to do with being more affected by the phases of the moon.

 

“Laura and I aren’t due for another two weeks so I suppose you have it worse at the moment.”

 

“Wait – you and Laura?” Danny honed in on that particular part of the statement.

 

“We live together; it was inevitable that we were going to sync up.” A smirk crossed Carmilla’s face. “Jealous?”

 

Danny wasn’t going to admit it if she was, it was a stupid thing to be jealous over really. It was just that she sometimes wished that she could be the one to share a room with Laura. She loved the time they spent together, the dates they went on, but she couldn’t help but feel that she was missing out the little things the other two shared by being together on such a daily basis. “No.”

 

“Liar,” said Carmilla. Strange as it was, Danny thought she could almost hear affection in the other girl’s voice.

 

Danny looked away from Carmilla’s gaze and shrugged. She rooted around in her bag for some pads and unzipped the front of the tent. She walked out to behind a tree to sort herself out and silently cursed the inconvenience of it all. Why did it have to be now?

 

When she was done, she went back to the tent and tried to get some rest despite the aching in her stomach and back – evidentially, Carmilla had managed to get back to sleep easily enough, as she was as still as a stone when Danny crept back in.

 

* * *

 

In the morning, they all sat around the camp-fire, eating the break fast of protein bars (at Karl’s insistence) and cookies (Laura’s contribution), all feeling barely refreshed after an evening of patchy sleeping on the lumpy ground. This all felt rather familiar to Laura somehow. Despite the radically different circumstances, in some ways it was just like camping trips her dad used to take on when she was younger. On the other hand, she'd look at her girlfriends and just be reminded of how different everything was now, of how distant she felt from her childhood after being away from home for a just a matter of months. So much had happened in such a short period of time...

 

“How’s the leg feeling now?” Karl asked for what seemed like the thousandth time.

 

“It’s fine.” Laura was sure her dad was just waiting for her to tell him that she was in agony and that she just wanted to go home and abandon the whole quest to defeat the Dean. It really was fine as well, it still stung a little but she could walk about fine on her own now much to her relief. She’d been afraid that she would have to burden them all for the entire journey (however long it was going to take).

 

“I guess we’ll set off soon then.” Oddly enough, his voice was missing the note of disappointment Laura had expected to hear. No, he almost sounded proud…

 

Her attention was drawn by Carmilla getting up to walk over to Danny who was wearing a grumpy expression much more suited to Carmilla. Carmilla pressed something into her hands that Laura could not see.

 

Danny made a face in return but accepted whatever it was, putting something in her mouth – a painkiller, maybe? Laura tried and failed to avoid craning her neck too much in the looking over but was rewarded in her efforts by seeing an exchange of smiles so brief it might just have been a figment of her imagination.

 

Laura made a mental note of it and resolved to ask later – in truth, she had definitely noticed in a small change in the way that the two of them were around each other even before this and she couldn't exactly say she minded. 

 

* * *

 

They all packed up quickly after breakfast and set off again on the monotonous journey, Danny staying out front to lead – apparently not feeling particularly chatty this morning.

 

“How was the night with Danny?” Laura asked, jogging up to walk alongside Carmilla, wiggling her eyebrows a little. There was something about teasing Carmilla that always proved irresistible. “Get up to anything interesting?”

 

Carmilla pulled a face. “We managed to restrain ourselves from killing each other which should make it a win in your book.”

 

Laura snorted. “Who are you really trying to fool?”

 

“I feel certain I don’t know what you mean,” Carmilla replied, haughtily.

 

“All I’m saying is that the two of you aren’t doing a very good job of maintaining the fiction that you hate each other…”

 

“We tolerate each other for your sake…” Carmilla conceded.

 

“Suuuuuuure.” Laura decided not to push it further though Carmilla’s reaction had only confirmed her suspicions – Carmilla and Danny were falling for one another - as friends at the very least. The thought filled Laura with a strange sense of glee. Perhaps it was just selfishness, excitement at the prospect that she wouldn’t have to split herself so sharply between the two of them, that the three of them could all just be together…But on the other hand, the idea that the two women that she loved could find the beauty in one another filled her with an entirely un-self motivated sense of joy.

 

It at least gave her something to hope for in the midst of all this.

 

Laura took Carmilla’s hand and hoped her father wasn’t watching – sure he knew from the videos that she was dating Carmilla but they hadn’t really broached the subject properly and nor did she really feel like doing so at this juncture. She found her mind wandering as they walked together, thinking again about the task ahead of them, about the Dean…

 

“Are you really ready for this?” Laura blurted out. She’d been thinking it for a while but she’d been afraid of Carmilla’s answer. Afraid it would make it too hard.

 

“What are you talking about, cinnamon-roll?”

 

Carmilla and Laura exchanged looks – wordlessly agreeing that as nicknames went, Cinnamon-roll was not one of the better ones that Carmilla had ever come up with but that they’d move on without comment. “I mean with the plan…she is your mother and I…”

 

Carmilla smiled (a real smile, not a smirk) and Laura immediately felt reassured. Carmilla’s true smile was rare (though it had become increasingly less so in recent weeks) and it never failed to light up her entire face. She looked alive. “I can’t believe you’re worrying about me…No, trust me. I want her gone as much as you do.”

 

“We’ll get her. Believe me. She’ll never see Silas again and the Campus will be safe for us and everyone.”

 

 

Notes

This chapter brought to you by my complete and utter loathing of camping! Decided to throw in the stuff about Danny’s period pains because a) this show is sponsored by U by Kotex so it seemed appropriate and b) stories involving characters camping, living in the woods, etc. rarely mention how much wild camping when menstruating sucks so…I figured I’d include it for realism. Also, I'm aware that nothing really happens in this chapter but the next one should be a little more eventful. 

 

The cinnamon-roll nickname is a reference to the whole 'beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world' thing that I've seen people use to refer to Elise/Laura.  

 

Sorry for the wait in this chapter coming out. It was a mix of illness, having other fics to complete, and family obligations (what with Christmas and everything) that kept me from updating. Also, writing this chapter felt like pulling teeth for some reason. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to more regular updates from now on! 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finally catches up to the Dean and are ready to finish it once and for all. Unfortunately, the Dean has other ideas and has prepared a nasty surprise for Carmilla.

Up ahead Danny stopped, turning to face the rest of them. “We’re getting close.”

 

“You can tell?” Karl asked, still sounding sceptical about the entire 'sensing' thing. Laura looked to Danny for confirmation.

 

Danny nodded. “I can feel it.”

 

“How close is close?” Laura asked, feeling a sudden bubbling of anxiety in her stomach. They’d been walking for what seemed like forever and after the initial burst of energy at the beginning of the journey, they’d soon settled into a dull routine that seemed like it would never end. For all their talk, it had been easy for forget that the confrontation was actually coming up.

 

“A few hours, maybe less.”

 

They all exchanged looks, taking in exactly what this meant.

 

“We’re ready,” said Laura, nervously. “I mean, we are ready, right?”

 

Danny cricked her neck, a suitably determined look on her face. “Let’s do this.”

 

“I guess,” said Carmilla, with trademark understatement.

 

Karl just nodded.

 

Laura opened her mouth – all the stories informed her that this was the perfect time for a motivational speech, something epic to rally the troops to glorious victory. She’d gone on more than a few rants about the importance of protecting girls at the campus previously but somehow now there seemed nothing left to say. A drop of water fell from a leaf up high and landed squarely on Laura’s nose. She giggled a little, yup, now she really didn’t feel like she could muster up a classic.

 

“Lead the way, Danny,” she said, simply. If they survived this they would have ample time to worry about coming up with a suitably moving speech with which to impress her viewers.

 

* * *

 

The walk over was mostly spent in silence, Danny leading the pack with grim determination, the rest of them following along in varying degrees of anxiety and anticipation.

 

After some time, Danny came to a halt, pointing to a cave a short distance away. “She’s in there.”

 

Laura looked at it and quipped. “Way to be a cliché villain, Marcelina, hiding out in a cave like it’s your lair or something.”

 

“You remember the plan, right?” said Danny, ignoring the remark, her eyes narrowed and absolutely fixed upon that cave. She seemed raring to go, like she was barely containing her desire to just ignore the plan and rush in there head first. 

 

Carmilla rolled her eyes “We’ve been over it a million times, Xena, if we didn’t have it by now then it’s far too late for any of us.”

 

“I still don’t like this,” said Karl, looking at Laura.

 

“Dad, none of us like it but it’s the best plan we’ve got. In the end, it’s worth it. We can’t change anything by just hiding away – we’ve got to confront evil head on.” Her voice softened a little. “It’s what mom would have done.”

 

His face crumpled a little, a sad smile crossing his face. “You're right and I’m so proud of you, sweetheart.”

 

Laura felt a lump rising up in her throat. “Thanks, dad.”

 

He pulled her into a hug; her face getting buried into his chest, feeling the warmth of his body envelop her for what she hoped wouldn’t be the last time. “Just promise me you’ll try to be safe, okay?”

 

“I promise,” she said, though it came out muffled against the fabric of his jacket. “And I’ll expect you to do the same.”

 

Danny and Carmilla looked at each other awkwardly, shrugging.

 

“Don’t expect a hug from me, Red,” Carmilla drawled.

 

Danny put on an expression of feigned shock. “ And here I was hoping for a hallmark moment with the vampire.”

 

“Try not to get yourself killed.” Carmilla said, adding hastily: “Wouldn’t want Laura to have to mourn your death. It'd be very boring for me to have to listen to her crying over you all the time.”

 

Danny looked into her eyes, trying for flippant but getting something else instead. “Same goes for you.”

 

Laura and her dad let go of one another, finally and Laura breathed out, turning away from him towards the two girls, the two loves of her life. “Well, it’s time.” There was an oddly cheerful note in her voice as she spoke.

 

She took Carmilla’s and Danny’s hands in hers, grasping at them firmly and started the walk. They fell into a rhythm, Danny adjusting her rather larger strides in order to accommodate the shorter legs of the other two, even managing to laugh a little about it. Having the two of them there with her made Laura feel strong, stronger than she thought she ever could feel; the Dean was alone – how could she be any match for them when they worked together? And even if it did all end, at least it would be in the name of doing what was right.

 

* * *

 

When they entered the cave the Dean was sitting calmly on a rock; looking not unlike she had back in her office at Silas. The place was unsettling, even Laura could feel it – there was something odd about the place. It looked fine as far as caves went. It was dry inside and only a little cooler than it was outside. There were several barren rocks, devoid of any moss or lichen. If Perry owned a cave (as unlikely as that eventuality was) this would probably be what it would look like. No, it wasn’t the cave’s appearance that made it feel off – though Laura guessed that the fact that the Dean was there was probably enough to make things feel weird and unnatural.

 

At least she hoped so, they’d counted on the Hungry Light being fixed in Silas – they were screwed if she’d somehow managed to find a way to bring it along with her. They’d only planned to take down the Dean; anything else just seemed like asking the impossible at this point.

 

“Well, it took you long enough. I suppose that’s what happens when you have humans dragging you down. I could sense you from miles off, of course.” The Dean looked directly up at Carmilla. “My daughter, your blood sung out to me over the distance – our bond is unbreakable, eternal. Such is a mother’s love.”

 

“I doubt you’d know anything about that,” said Laura, crossing her arms in front of her chest. This hadn’t exactly been what she had been expecting; she’d thought that they’d just get in there and take the Dean by surprise – no talking, efficient. Then again, when did anything ever go to plan when the supernatural was involved? Still, it didn't feel right just attacking, she was still a living creature no matter what she had done - they'd accounted for her making the first move. 

 

“I’m of course forgetting that true motherly love is getting yourself killed fighting werewolves, leaving your poor little girl all alone in this world…I see that her foolishness had inspired you to take on her mantle. I’m sure she’d be so proud.”

 

Laura’s mouth dropped open and she looked to Carmilla for back-up; Carmilla, however, was looking at a spot the ground. Her hands were shaking. 

 

“Oh yes, I knew about your mother but it’s really of no matter. It’s all just humans taking it upon themselves to hunt monsters.” There was a terrible note of merriment in her voice. “There’s nothing special about you, dear. Even your father seems to have disappeared; the poor man was so desperate for companionship. He said he knew what I was the whole time but I rather think that he enjoyed the charade a little too much. Maybe after we're done here, I'll pay him a little visit. I'm sure he'd like that.”

 

Danny lunged forward towards the Dean, offended on Laura’s behalf, Laura and Carmilla quickly reached out to pull her firmly back. This was not going to be won by brute force; they had to stick to the plan and do this together. Danny stopped but looked like she could go again at any moment.

 

The Dean tutted in an infuriatingly patronising manner. “Now now girls, you really must learn to control your dog.” She looked down at her nails. “Filthy creatures but they have their uses if you train them right. I have to say that I’m disappointed in you, Mircalla.”

 

Carmilla flinched but stood silent.

 

Laura knew she was missing something; her mind was whirling – automatically trying to put the pieces together. _Focus,_ she told herself. The Dean was just trying to throw them off with this and she couldn’t let her. They needed to get started; they were just getting caught up in standing around arguing with her instead of carrying out the plan out as expected; it could only ever give the Dean the advantage. She tried to signal to the others that they should probably just stop engaging with the centuries old evil vampire but they didn’t seem to notice her waving of the arms.

 

“No-one cares about your disappointment,” Danny snapped, a slight tremor in her voice. “You’ll be dead soon.”

 

The Dean continued to speak as though Danny had not even said anything (the smile on her face made it clear that she was glad that she’d managed to get a rise out of her), turning again to look at Carmilla. “Anyways, since I had so much time to kill when I was waiting for you all to join me, I thought I’d prepare a little surprise for you.” She gestured grandly to something, or someone, emerging pale and insubstantial through the cave walls.

 

Carmilla went shock white, horrible realisation dawning on her face.

 

Notes

Cliff-hanger ending! I hope you’ll forgive the shorter than usual chapter but I know it’s been a couple of weeks since I last updated and this seemed like the best place to leave end the chapter anyways. 

 

As ever, please leave comments telling me what you think – I love to hear back from readers!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle with the Dean commences and secrets are revealed.

Warning: this chapter is a little bit more violent than usual and there's some mild gore. 

 

A figure appeared – it was odd and shapeless, made up of a swirl of pale grey mist, but it was clear that she had once been a woman. Its eyes burned dark as coals, stark and somehow appearing more solid against the filmy, drooping formlessness of the ghostly presence. Was this Elle? Laura clung on tighter to Carmilla, hoping her presence was comforting.

 

“Mama,” Carmilla whispered.

 

“There’s no appealing to her!” said Danny. “She’s just trying to distract us.”

 

Laura followed Carmilla’s gaze to the silent apparition and understood. “Danny, I don’t think she’s talking to the Dean.”

 

“She can’t speak,” the Dean said, looking at Carmilla. “She’s been dead too long. She’s not human any more – like mother like daughter.”

 

Carmilla broke away from Danny and Laura and stepped forward, reaching a tentative hand out towards the spirit. The spirit looked back at her though there seemed to be not one spark of understanding in its eyes. Almost automatically, it tried to mirror back Carmilla’s action but stopped before their hands met, it’s arm being pulled back by some unseen force into the grey mass.

 

“You see,” said the Dean, carrying on in that oh-so-conversational tone designed purely to anger. “I could have done so much worse to you. Look what I saved you from my daughter.”

 

Carmilla turned to look sharply at the Dean, her hands bunched tightly into fists but she did not speak.

 

“Cat got your tongue? You should be thankful – she left you all alone for all those years to fend for yourself and she’s no more use to you now. Look at your little friends – this is what they’ll become. They’ll fade away to this,” she gestured to the spirit with a flick of the hand. “But you and I will remain.”

 

“Not if we kill you first,” Danny spat out, unable to hold back any longer.

 

“Right,” said Laura, rushing to back her up. “Carm, this is probably just some stupid trick – she knew that we could beat her so she brings out some phony illusion. Lilith has certain powers beyond that of an ordinary vampire, remember.”

 

Carmilla looked at them both, giving a short nod before turning back to the Dean. “I would ask whether ever get tired of the sound of your own voice but after so many years, I already know the answer is no. Too bad that I am. So mother, dearest, let’s stop stalling the inevitable and finish this one way or the other.”

 

The Dean laughed, the horrible sound echoing throughout the cave. “You think you can defy me? Don’t you remember what happened the last time? I was being lenient then – this time, I won’t be burying you _alive_ if you insist on continuing this foolishness.”

 

Carmilla just shook her head. She was done with trading words. She closed her eyes, reaching from within for her claws, bringing forth the transformation.

 

The Dean snapped her fingers, apparently unperturbed and there was a flurry of motion from outside the cave. Laura sighed, wondering what it could be this time. Carmilla stopped, the energy shunting within. 

 

Laura's face dropped as she spied her father’s limp body being carried in by none other than Will. There was a coating of blood around her father’s neck, staining his plaid shirt. He wasn’t moving.

 

“Dad!” Laura called out. It felt like her heart had stopped and the world with it. This couldn’t be happening – he was never supposed to be involved in this, he was supposed to be safe and now it looked like he might be…

 

Her dad did not respond. Will grinned, licking his lips.

 

“I trust that you did as I asked,” the Dean asked, looking towards him.

 

He nodded.

 

“I’m glad that I at least have one obedient child. I had hoped that I could rely on you but I invited William on this family outing just in case. Still, I’m sorry that it had to come to this, I had hoped for a _peaceful_ solution,” she said, her eyes flicking towards Carmilla. “Oh and Karl’s not dead, at least not yet.” She added, as an afterthought.

 

Laura rushed towards her Dad but Will moved away in a blur of motion, leaving the cave in a rush. Knowing she had no chance of catching up to him, Laura turned to the Dean and lunged, weapon in hand. The Dean dodged easily, stepping aside as though it were nothing.

 

“Get him back,” she said, through gritted teeth.

 

“Be reasonable, I was hardly going to allow him to create a barrier to trap me here,” the Dean said, in tones of false hurt. “That was what he was trying to do, wasn’t it? You really did have little confidence in your ability to kill me.”

 

“Get Will to bring him back,” said Laura. “Then maybe we can _negotiate._ ”

 

“We’re not negotiating: I’m telling you how it’s going to be and you can take it or leave it. You and your _wolf_ can stay here, or go somewhere else, I don’t care but you are never to return to Austria – it’s not like you can come back to Silas anyway, I’ve just decided to _expe_ l you. Mircalla comes back with me and carries out my work and takes whatever punishment I see fit. In return, I’ll give you your father back and Will won’t drain him completely dry. How’s that? Oh, and decide quickly – I try my best to control his behaviour but my children can be rather wayward and he can be rather bloodthirsty.”

 

They gathered in close, speaking quietly so that the Dean probably could not hear (though there were no guarantees where vampiric hearing was involved).

 

“We’re not doing this,” hissed Danny, looking to Carmilla who looked rather less sure. “We can’t. You’ll just be following her orders forever, Carm. You don’t want that.”

 

“I don’t want to give in either,” said Laura, an uncharacteristic note of defeat in her voice. “But I can’t lose my dad…I can’t lose another parent.”

 

“I’m going to get your father,” Danny said, leaving no room for argument. “You two just focus on the Dean.”

 

“But…how?” Laura asked.

 

“You’ll see, just trust me,” Danny implored, grasping Laura’s hands.

 

Laura wavered, she wanted to believe but there was just so much on the line. She looked to Carmilla, knowing that it was hopeless agreeing if she was not on board.

 

Carmilla sighed and nodded, her face grave and resolute.

 

“I trust you, both of you,” Laura said, quietly. “And my dad would want me to do this.”

 

As though on cue, they sprung apart and Danny dashed out of the cave, transforming mid stride, her body twisting and turning as fur sprouted out. A large dog-like creature emerged, running off into the woods on all fours. Laura gaped for a moment and the pieces clicked together in her mind – she supposed she should have guessed earlier but she hadn’t exactly had the best track record when it came to identifying supernatural creatures, it’d taken her long enough to just figure out Carmilla was a vampire. Shaking her thoughts off, Laura turned her attention back to the Dean, noting to ask about Danny later should there even be a later. 

 

“You’re going to regret that,” the Dean said, a tone of cold steel in her voice. “That is if you even live that long.”

 

“You know what I think?” said Laura, coming to a sudden realisation. “I think the reason that you’re always trying to intimidate us and to cut deals is that, when it comes down to it, you’re not really that powerful. You’re just a pathetic old vampire looking to cosy up to some being of light so that she can pretend that she’s still relevant. Sorry, but I’m not buying it.”

 

Carmilla let out a strange growl sound that took both Laura and the Dean by surprise. By the time Laura had turned to look at her, she was gone or rather transformed – in her place was a giant, feral looking, cat-like creature. Carmilla, raced forward and barrelled right into the Dean – fiercely tearing at her, the sound of shrieks and growls filling the air. The Dean was struggling back, grasping back at Carmilla.

 

Laura unsheathed her long silver knife and walked closer, trying her best to avoid the flurry of movement. Her heart was pounding fast and she could feel herself shake with the adrenaline. This was no good – the plan had seemed to make sense when they had discussed it but the reality of it was so much messier. She knew she had to strike but in the scramble, there was a chance that she could wound or even kill Carmilla instead but if she didn’t act, then Carmilla would end up dead anyways…

 

No, she had to do this...

 

She took a deep breath and steadied her hand

 

“Carmilla,” she said, urgently, hoping that she could still hear her and understand whilst she was in this form.

 

The cat looked up, meeting Laura’s eyes for just a moment, before continuing the fight; her movements were more focused now, less designed to inflict pain. After a few moments, she had the Dean pinned, her weight resting heavily on top of her, claws sticking the Dean’s arms into the ground.

 

Trying not to give herself any time to think about it, Laura rushed, bringing down the silver knife hard to the Dean’s neck, pushing down harder as black blood started to spurt from the wound. She was making an odd gurgling sound, no longer able to bargain or manipulate. Laura felt a little ill at the sight and sound of this creature dying by her hand but she knew that she couldn’t stop. There was too much at stake. Her father's pallid face flashed before her eyes and she threw her entire body into one last push. The knife went through bone with a terrible crunch.

 

It was done. The Dean was dead.

 

Laura stood up, a little dizzily, wiping the sweat from her brow – realising too late that she was probably smearing vampire blood all over her face. Slowly, Carmilla turned back, her body still pinning her mother’s, her hands on her lifeless wrists. She stayed there for a moment, silently, perhaps to convince herself that she was really dead.

 

“Carm, it’s okay, you can let go now,” said Laura, gently. “She’s dead.”

 

Slowly, Carmilla let go and stood up, flexing her hands reflexively. “We should probably bury her head and her body separately, just in case.”

 

“I promise we will but can we try and find Danny and my Dad first? Will might still be out there and-”

 

“Alright, but I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m sure Xena is more than capable of kicking my brother’s ass,” Carmilla said. It was the best she could really do in terms of offering comfort.

 

Laura nodded and they started to leave the cave but Carmilla had stopped suddenly, like she was caught. Laura followed her gaze and found that she was looking again at the spirit of her birth mother, which had been just standing there, immobile, for the duration of the battle.

 

“Mama?” Carmilla said, again, wondering whether things would be any different now that her other mother had been vanquished.

 

The spirit looked at Carmilla and there was a flash of understanding, even love, in its strange face. It reached out, embracing Carmilla for a brief second before she was gone, disintegrating into the air, leaving nothing behind. Carmilla looked down for a moment, in silent mourning. She looked back up at the others – pasting on a shaky approximation of her usual sardonic smile.

 

“Let’s finish this so we can go home.”

 

 

Author’s note

Hey everyone, sorry that it’s taken so long for this chapter to be written though I’m sure you’re used to my terrible updating skills by now. The next chapter will probably be the last one so you won’t have to put up with it for too much longer!

 

I considered making the spirit Ell when I was first planning this fic but I soon decided that it would fit more with the family theme to make it Carmilla’s birth mother. Also, I thought it was interesting that it’s something that isn’t really discussed that much in the show (as far as I can recall, correct me if I’m wrong), I mean we know that the Dean kind of adopted Carmilla so what happened to her birth parents?

 

Anyways, as ever, please leave feedback telling me what you think – comments really do make my day!

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter.

They found Danny back at their last camp site, administering first aid calmly as though she wasn’t caked in drying blood and mud.

 

“Are you okay?” Laura asked, taking in her appearance.

 

“It looks worse than it is,” Danny said. “Most the blood isn’t mine.”

 

“I guess we can skip asking what happened to brother-dearest,” muttered Carmilla.

 

Laura rushed over and knelt by her father’s side. “Dad, are you okay?”

 

He smiled weakly. “I’m feeling a little anaemic but I’ve donated blood before…nothing to worry about. Did you do it? Did you kill her? The Dean, is she gone?”

 

Laura was not convinced; he looked pale and like he could barely manage to keep his eyes open. “We did but Dad…”

 

“Don’t worry,” said Carmilla seeming to sense her concern. “My brother may have been bloodthirsty but he had enough sense not to defy mother. He’ll live, he just needs to rest.”

 

“I’ll stay here with him,” said Laura, taking his hand. “You two go bury that body.”

 

“Lucky us,” said Carmilla, sardonically. “Come on Xena, let’s go. We can fill each other in on all the gory details on the way.”

 

Danny stepped away from Karl and handed the first aid kit to Laura, resting her hand briefly on her shoulder before joining Carmilla.

 

Laura watched over her father as he fell back into sleep, feeling restless now that there was really nothing else to do. It was so unnerving to see him like this, so vulnerable – he’d always seemed so strong to Laura when she was a child. She’d never wanted to think of his mortality. Losing one parent was enough. She supposed she had always known deep down that despite all his precautions that he'd die some day. She wondered whether he knew that too. 

 

A while later, her dad woke back up again, seemingly unaware that he had even slept. 

 

“Guess you don’t need your old dad anymore if you can beat the Dean,” he said, smiling up at Laura. 

 

“Don’t say that! Of course I do!”

 

“I don’t mean it in a bad way…I mean, I know that you can take care of yourself. I’ve been overprotective sometimes, I know that, but you don’t need that any more. Though I do have to say I feel a lot safer knowing that those friends of yours have all those supernatural powers.”

 

Laura let out a little laugh.

 

“Your mother would have been so proud of you,” he said. His eyes were barely open now; he seemed to be losing the struggle to stay awake.

 

“Just rest now, dad,” said Laura. She could feel tears forming in her own eyes. “You need to sleep.”

 

She watched him for a while before she spotted Carmilla and Danny heading back towards camp looking more unkempt than before. They grinned at her in a way that told her that they had buried the body and they then plonked themselves down on a log.

 

“Well that’s done,” said Danny. “What’s next?”

 

There was a moment of silence before Carmilla spoke. “I think I should take Laura’s dad back home, I can carry him and run at high speed – it’s gotta be better than just leaving him out here.”

 

Danny looked to Laura. Laura nodded slowly, feeling unwilling to let her father out of her sight but knowing that this was the best way.

 

“I’ll then come back for Laura after and Danny can wolf out and run alongside – unless you wanted to trudge all the way home the slow way?”

 

“Are you strong enough for this?” Danny asked.

 

Carmilla smirked. “Don’t worry about me – or is this your way of telling me you’re too tired to keep up.”

 

Danny pursed her lips. “I’ll be fine, just wanted to make sure you could handle it. I wouldn’t want you to drop Laura or her dad.”

 

Laura’s eyes flew to Carmilla’s face, more out of concern for the latter possibility happening than the former.

 

“If we can kill my mother, I think I can handle a little bit of light lifting.”

 

“Alright, sounds like a plan,” conceded Laura. “Just be careful.”

 

Carmilla picked up Karl and it looked rather surreal, this girl who was barely taller than Laura picking up her tall and burly father like it were nothing.

 

“I’ll be back before you know it,” said Carmilla, speeding off into the distance.

 

Laura and Danny sat in silence, just looking at the ground or the trees or anything but each other. 

 

“We should talk,” said Laura, wearily.

 

“Yeah,” said Danny, unenthusiastically.

 

“But later,” said Laura. “Carmilla could be back at any moment and I don’t want to be interrupted. Plus, you know, we did just kill the Dean – I think we should all just revel in that for a moment.”

 

Danny nodded.

 

When they all finally made it home, Laura checked that her father was doing fine and then they all just went to sleep on Laura’s bed, the previous awkwardness about sharing completely gone in the face of everything they had gone through (though the fact that they were all completely worn out didn’t seem to hurt matters either).

 

The next day they were still kind of sluggish. Laura’s dad seemed a lot better though Laura kept having to remind him that he should be resting and not trying to perform household chores as usual. A strange tension had formed in the air and Danny seemed far less talkative than usual.

 

“So, we should have that talk,” said Laura to Danny, later that day, when once Karl had settled in for an afternoon nap.

 

Seeing her cue to leave, Carmilla skulked out of the room without saying anything. She was interested to hear what they had to say but with vampire hearing you didn’t exactly have to be in the same room to do that. Call it personal curiosity.

 

Laura fiddled with a loose thread on her bedspread. “So you’re a werewolf, huh, guess I should have figured that one out.”

 

Danny shrugged. “You had a lot going on.”

 

“You could have just told me, you know,” said Laura, an edge of hurt in her voice. Her other girlfriend was a freaking vampire – surely that should have tipped Danny off that it wasn’t going to be a big issue? “You can tell me anything.”

 

“My parents used to say that and look how that turned out…”

 

“Wait, was this what they kicked you out for?” Laura sounded outraged. 

 

Danny nodded, unsure as to whether Laura's outrage was directed at her for lying by omission or at them.

 

“I thought your parents kicked you out for being gay.”

 

“They weren’t too thrilled about that either but it wasn’t the reason, look, it’s a lot to handle. You’ve only seen my controlled transformations. It’s not like that during the full moon…I’m not controllable…only containable.”

 

“That’s still no excuse; it wasn’t your fault this happened to you…”

 

Danny sighed. “That wasn’t how they saw it – I was out past curfew on the night that I was bitten. I went out with some teammates, it got rowdy, under-aged drinking happened, and I lost track of time. I was walking home and I was just…attacked, out of no-where. Bitten. I didn’t know what had happened to me…”

 

“Oh my god, that’s awful.” said Laura. “Did you ever find out who did it?”

 

Danny shrugged. “No idea – but it was a full moon. They probably couldn’t help themselves, whoever they were. I don’t blame them for this. Besides, whatever else happened, it did make me stronger – strong enough to defend the people that I love.”

 

“That doesn’t make it your fault,” said Laura, simply. “And I don’t think the bite is the source of your true strength.”

 

If anyone else had said it, Danny might have found it cheery but from Laura’s lips it sounded encouraging. “Thanks. I know I should have told you earlier and I meant to…but after what you told me about your mom, I just thought that…”

 

Laura smiled, sadly. “I get it, I do. But I know that not all werewolves are alike just like not all vampires are like the Dean. You didn’t kill my mom so how could I blame you for it.”

“I really don’t know anyone like you, most people would run away screaming if they knew what I was but you…”

 

“It takes a lot more than that to scare me.” Laura walked over and planted a soft kiss on Danny’s lips. “I’m going to go see my dad, now but we can talk more later?” Laura asked, getting up.

 

Danny nodded and Laura gave her another quick peck before she left.

 

Danny sighed, feeling absolutely exhausted and allowed her body to tip backwards onto the bed. She allowed herself a minute of silence, revelling in the simple pleasure that was the softness of the mattress against her weary body. Just a moment before she gave in and invited the vampire in (maybe the old lore was true after all). “You might as well stop hovering and just come on in,” she said, irritably.

 

Carmilla’s silence from outside the hallway was palpable.

 

Danny rolled her eyes. “Seriously, just get in here because I’m not moving any time soon.”

 

“I didn’t realise you were so desperate to see me, Red,” said Carmilla, entering.

 

“You didn’t seriously think that I didn’t know you were listening in – werewolf, remember? I can sense these things.”

 

Carmilla shrugged. She’d been caught fair and square; she couldn’t really argue with that. “So, how did it go?”

 

“You heard, didn’t you?” Danny said. “I suppose it went as well as it was ever going to go.”

 

“It’s a relief isn’t it? To be seen for who you are?” Carmilla said, sounding uncharacteristically solemn.

 

“I suppose,” said Danny.

 

“So just be happy it’s all out in the open.” Carmilla flopped down on the bed next to Danny. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect to see you lazing about like this – much more my style, don’t you think?”

 

Danny groaned. “Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.”

 

“Well don’t sound too excited about it.”

 

Danny rolled over so she was facing Carmilla. “Okay, as hard as it is to admit it I do…I am…I have grown to appreciate your…skills in battle and…”

 

Carmilla smirked. “No need to get so flustered. I was only teasing.”

 

Danny scowled.

 

“Honestly,” Carmilla continued. “Your face is as red as your hair.”

 

“You do realise that my hair isn’t actually red don’t you?” said Danny, unable to deny the rest of Carmilla’s allegations.

 

Carmilla scoffed. “It’s a play on words - I thought you studied English?”

 

“You’ve been alive for centuries and that was the best you could come up with?” Danny said, getting up in Carmilla’s face.  

 

“Actions speak louder than words – isn’t that your motto?” Carmilla said, breathily. “How about you-”

 

“Oh shut up.” Danny closed the space between them and pressed her mouth hard against Carmilla’s. Carmilla moved her hand up against Danny’s cheek, pulling her harder up against her. It felt a little like a wrestling match between the two of them, pushing and pulling against each other with supernatural strength, trying somehow to find some kind of equilibrium.

 

The door opened abruptly. Danny and Carmilla sprung apart quickly. Laura stood there and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, looks like I’m the one interrupting for once. Well, it’s about time.”

 

Danny and Carmilla looked at Laura, at each other and then back to Laura, unsure of what to say but smiling none the less.

 

“There’s still work to do, you know, so don’t be getting the idea that we’re all just going to have a romantic vacation now that you two have finally gotten your act together,” said Laura. “The Dean may be dead but there’s still the Hungry Light to deal with.”

 

“Alright then, Silas here we come,” said Danny, sounding pumped up. Sure, she was still tired but there was something invigorating about the opportunity to fight alongside her loves again. 

 

“All for one and one for all,” said Carmilla, sounding slightly less enthused.

 

Laura smiled and grabbed her mother’s book out of her bag. Time to get to work again. 

 

Notes

That’s it, that’s the end of the fic - I hope that you all enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who followed along and left kudos or comments. I’m now going to use this opportunity to ask one more time for feedback now that the fic is over – I’d love to know what people thought of the fic overall!

**Author's Note:**

> I think the Avril Lavigne reference in this chapter was at least partially inspired by this awesome fanvid that someone made for Carmilla using the song Girlfriend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSSBUnKnd6k&list=UUtCbJs01DEXKna47iYWJ0FQ


End file.
